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YOUTH   AND   THE    RACE 

A  STUDY  IN  THE 
PSYCHOLOGY  OF  ADOLESCENCE 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 


MIND  IN  THE  MAKING 

A  Study  in  Mental  Development 

x  Volume,    xamo      .    .    .    net    $1.50 


YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

A  STUDY  IN  THE 
PSYCHOLOGY  OF  ADOLESCENCE 


BY 

EDGAR  JAMES  £WIFT 

PROFESSOR   OF    PSYCHOLOGY   AND    EDUCATION    IN   WASHINGTON    UNIVERSITY 
SAINT  LOUIS 

AUTHOR  or  "MIND  IN  THE  MAKING" 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 
1912 


COPYRIGHT,  1912,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Published  September, 


MY  WIFE 


2268 


PREFACE 

The  role  which  racial  instincts  play  in  the 
emotions,  intellect,  and  will  of  children  has  been 
the  subject  of  many  investigations  in  recent  years 
by  those  interested  in  the  psychology  of  child- 
hood. These  studies,  however,  have  had  but 
slight  effect  upon  the  methods  of  the  schools. 
This  book  is  an  attempt  to  show  the  possible 
application  of  some  of  these  results  to  the  edu- 
cation of  children. 

Teachers  have  followed  the  traditional  meth- 
ods of  education  which  were  adopted  before  the 
knowledge  which  we  now  have  was  available.  The 
ideas  and  practice  of  the  old  English  grammar- 
schools  were  brought  to  ,this  coufTtry  by  those 
deeply  imbued  with  belief  in  the  natural  deprav- 
ity of  children,  and  our  educational  methods 
have  never  recovered  from  the  affliction. 

The  author  has  tried  to  indicate  how  the 
schools  may  help  to  transform  into  intellectual 
and  moral  forces  the  racial  instincts  which,  as 
manifestations  of  original  sin,  distressed  our 
forefathers. 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

Effort  has  also  been  made  to  fix  the  responsi- 
bility for  conditions  that  cause  these  primitive 
impulses  to  continue  dominant  beyond  the  age 
when  they  should  yield  to  social  and  ethical  prin- 
ciples of  action. 

WASHINGTON  UNIVERSITY, 
SAINT  Louis,  Mo.,  July,  1912. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACK 

I.     THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE    ....  3 

II.     THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH 41 

III.  THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW 85 

IV.  THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY  .     .  129 
V.     VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL       .     .     .     .  173 

VI.     FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING  .     .     .  214 

VII.     THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG:  AN  EDUCA- 
TIONAL ASSET 246 

VIII.     THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES   .     .  288 

INDEX 339 


YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 


YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE 

ONE  day  two  thirteen-year-old  boys  disappeared 
from  their  homes  in  Bath  Beach.  Six  weeks  later 
a  Nebraska  baker,  into  whose  shop  they  went  to 
buy  some  bread,  concluding  from  the  youngsters' 
dilapidated  appearance  that  they  had  run  away, 
drew  from  them  the  following  story,1  which  they 
afterward  repeated  at  their  home. 

"You  see,  I  wanted  to  get  rich  and  there  wasn't 
any  chance  in  Bath  Beach,"  said  Wilbur,  who  acted 
as  spokesman.  "I  just  sort  of  felt  that  I  must  see 
the  world.  I'd  never  been  in  any  place  but  New 
York,  and  then  I  had  to  go  with  grown-up  folks 
and  was  treated  like  a  kid.  The  night  we  went 
away  I  didn't  have  a  cent,  but  I  wasn't  afraid.  I 
thought  we  only  had  to  go  out  West  and  find  a 
gold  mine.  Had  I  been  reading  books  of  advent- 
ure? Of  course  I  had.  That's  about  the  only  way 
you  can  get  adventures  at  Bath  Beach. 

lNew  York  World,  September  3,  1906. 
3 


4  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

"We  got  on  the  train  for  New  York,  for  we 
knew  that  was  the  starting-point  for  everywhere. 
Then  we  crossed  the  ferry  and  landed  at  the  Lacka- 
wanna  station  in  Hoboken.  We  hung  around  the 
freight  cars  for  two  days  before  we  got  a  chance 
to  steal  a  ride  to  Buffalo.  We  went  mighty  slow 
on  the  two  dollars  that  Harry  had,  so  we  didn't 
live  very  high. 

"Out  of  Buffalo  we  got  a  car  for  Chicago.  And, 
say,  the  police  are  no  good.  Why,  my  mother 
sent  out  descriptions  of  me,  and  I  used  to  pass 
the  cops  in  all  the  cities  we  visited  without  dodg- 
ing. They  never  even  thought  I  looked  suspicious. 

"I  don't  think  much  of  Chicago,  and  Buffalo's 
surely  on  the  bum.  You  see,  we  stayed  most  of 
the  time  around  the  freight  yards,  but  we  made 
turns  into  the  cities  just  so  we  could  see  the  world. 

"Of  course,  we  didn't  expect  to  strike  it  rich  till 
we  got  West.  When  we  left  Chicago  on  a  freight 
car  we  didn't  stop  at  any  more  big  cities. 

"Goodness,  but  we  had  some  terrible  experi- 
ences! but  I  wasn't  afraid.  Once  we  were  held  up 
by  two  big  fellows  who  were  riding  on  the  same 
freight  car.  Harry  had  a  six-shooter,  and  the 
fellows  wanted  to  get  it.  First  they  put  their  pis- 
tols to  my  head  and  told  me  to  give  up  my  six- 
shooter.  When  I  said  I  didn't  have  one  they 
started  for  Harry.  He  had  slipped  his  pistol  down 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  5 

his  trousers  leg  while  they  were  after  me  and  told 
them  another  fellow  who  was  riding  on  the  car 
had  taken  it.  They  went  after  him,  and  while 
they  were  at  it,  Harry  and  I  jumped  off  and  hid 
in  the  woods. 

"We  had  a  hard  time  on  the  freight  cars.  The 
railroad  men  kept  chasing  us  and  we  fell  off  lots 
of  times.  I  didn't  get  hurt  much — just  jarred  up 
a  bit — but  I  didn't  care  when  I  was  hunting  a 
fortune. 

"We  didn't  have  much  to  eat,  and  by  the  time 
we  struck  Wayside,  Nebraska,  we  were  getting 
pretty  anxious  to  find  our  gold  mine.  We  got  a 
chance  to  work  on  the  railroad  for  a  few  days,  so 
we  saved  up  some  money.  I  didn't  have  any  shoes 
or  stockings  and  my  shirt  was  all  worn  out.  I 
bought  a  pair  of  long  trousers  to  make  me  look 
taller. 

"Then  we  started  out  to  walk  farther  west,  but 
we  didn't  come  to  any  gold  mines.  Nothing  but 
prairies  everywhere.  We  walked  and  walked  till 
we  came  to  Crawford,  Nebraska.  One  day  I  went 
into  a  bakery  to  buy  food.  It  was  our  last  fifty 
cents,  and  the  man  looked  at  me  kind  of  funny 
and  said,  'Haven't  you  run  away?'  I  told  him  I 
had,  and  he  was  mighty  good  to  us." 

Wilbur  and  Harry  were  not  abnormal  boys. 
They  loved  their  home  and  their  parents,  but  they 
wanted  excitement.  They  might  have  found  this 


6  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

in  the  nickelodeons  and  the  alleys — the  civilized 
successors  of  the  woods  and  streams — but  these 
did  not  satisfy  them,  and  therein  they  showed 
their  good  stuff.  They  wanted  adventures  with 
the  wild  instead  of  with  the  policemen  of  Bath 
Beach.  And  having  no  opportunity  to  enjoy  ad- 
ventures at  home  they  ran  away  to  find  them. 

Civilization  is  young.  Not  very  long  ago  man 
was  wandering  about  from  place  to  place,  remain- 
ing in  one  spot  only  so  long  as  a  comfortable  living 
could  be  secured  for  the  tribe  by  hunting,  or  until 
driven  away  by  superior  enemies.  It  would  be 
strange  indeed  if  long  ages  of  forest  life,  during 
which  man  laid  aside  his  weapons  only  to  enjoy 
what  they  had  given  him  or  to  prepare  for  new  con- 
quests, should  have  left  no  impress  on  his  descend- 
ants. But  we  are  not  dependent  here  upon  mere 
conjecture.  Let  us  delay  for  a  moment  to  glance 
at  some  of  the  evidence. 

Various  writers1  have  called  attention  to  certain 
fears  for  the  existence  of  which  only  racial  reasons 
can  be  offered.  As  illustrations  we  may  mention 
fear  in  the  woods  after  nightfall,  though  they  are 
much  safer  to-day  than  many  city  streets  where 

1 J.  O.  Quantz,  "Dendro-Psychosis,"  American  Journal  of  Psy- 
chology, vol.  9,  p.  449.  S.  S.  Buckman,  "Babies  and  Monkeys," 
Nineteenth  Century,  vol.  36,  1894,  p.  727.  A.  A.  Mumford,  "Survival 
Movements  of  Human  Infancy,"  Brain,  vol.  20,  1897,  p.  290.  L. 
Robinson,  "Darwinism  in  the  Nursery,"  Nineteenth  Century,  vol.  30, 
1891,  p.  831. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  7 

children  and  men  do  not  have  the  same  timidity; 
the  instinctive  fear  of  wild  animals  and  harmless 
reptiles;  fear  of  high  winds,  even  among  those  who 
have  never  experienced  cyclones  or  tornadoes;  and 
agoraphobia,  an  inexplicable  fear  on  any  other 
basis  than  as  a  survival  of  the  time  when  exposure 
in  the  open  meant  death. 

Water  also  has  played  a  tremendously  important 
part  among  primitive  people  in  their  conceptions 
of  life,  as  well  as  in  folk  literature,  in  philosophic 
speculation,  and  in  religious  cults.  Professor  Bol- 
ton1  has  collected  a  large  amount  of  data  showing 
the  curious  attitude  of  children  toward  water.  All 
of  it  is  rich  in  racial  memories. 

The  play  of  children  again  offers  strong  prima 
facie  evidence  of  the  irresistible  influence  of  this 
racial  heritage.  Investigations  of  the  sports  of 
primitive  people  always  impress  one  with  the  fact 
that  certain  games  are  perennial.  They  are  modi- 
fied from  age  to  age,  but  they  are  always  the  same 
old  games.  Spinning  tops,  archery,  guessing  games, 
hidden-ball,  dice,  ball  and  racket  (in  which  the 
racket  is  strikingly  like  that  used  to-day  in  tennis), 
shinny,  foot-ball,  quoits,  and  cat's  cradle  are  a  few 
of  those  pictured  by  Mr.  Stewart  Culin2  in  his 

1  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  vol.  10,  p.  169. 

J  "Twenty-fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  American 
Ethnology,  1902-03."  See  also  "The  Study  of  Man,"  by  Alfred 
C.  Haddon. 


8  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

interesting  study  of  the  games  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indians. 

No  sport  is  so  delightful  to  boys  in  the  country 
and  small  towns,  where  land  enough  is  available, 
as  digging  caves  in  which  to  conceal  themselves 
from  other  boys  or  from  which  they  may  make 
sorties  on  neighboring  orchards.  The  spoils  of 
their  raids  are  brought  to  their  retreat  with  great 
glee  and  secrecy,  perhaps  in  time  to  rot  and  be 
thrown  away;  but  that  does  not  matter.  It  was 
the  fun  of  seizure,  not  the  fruit,  that  they  wanted. 

Three  boys,  whom  the  writer  knows,  dig  a  large 
and  deep  hole  in  one  of  their  gardens  every  fall. 
The  top  is  covered  with  boards  and  a  secret  under- 
ground passage  leads  to  the  cavern.  This  passage 
is  not  long  enough  to  afford  any  real  concealment, 
but  such  is  the  deception  of  play.  This  cave  is  the 
winter  rendezvous  of  the  boys,  and  the  coal  cars  of 
a  railroad  near  by  afford  a  never-failing  source  of 
fuel  for  the  cave  fire. 

A  group  of  boys,  in  age  from  ten  to  twelve,  with 
whom  the  writer  camped  one  summer,  found  keen 
delight  in  building  wigwams  out  of  the  branches 
of  trees,  and  in  making  a  "one-night  shelter"  by 
bending  down  a  small  tree  and  piling  branches 
around  it  so  as  to  protect  their  heads  and  bodies 
from  the  "rain,"  while  their  feet  were  kept  warm 
by  means  of  a  small  camp-fire. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  9 

\ 

Any  one  who  has  had  contact  with  boys  in  the 
open  can  duplicate  these  instances  many  times 
over.  They  illustrate  the  natural  flow  of  primitive 
impulses  which  have  not  been  dammed  up  and 
turned  into  civilization's  alleys. 

The  methods  by  which  these  racial  instincts  may 
be  utilized  in  the  development  of  boys,  instead  of 
being  encouraged  to  function  in  a  non-social  way, 
will  be  discussed  in  subsequent  chapters,  but  first 
it  is  desirable  to  see  the  result  of  failure  to  provide 
conditions  suitable  to  their  healthful  expression. 
The  following  items  are  taken  from  newspapers. 
If  they  lack  the  exactness  in  details  usual  in  news- 
paper reports,  they  are  nevertheless  true  in  essen- 
tial facts.  The  names  of  the  children  and  some- 
times other  unessential  statements  are  omitted. 

Case  i. — Residents  of  Jardine  Place,  Brooklyn,  com- 
plained to  the  police  yesterday  that  a  gang  of  boys,  whose 
ages  range  from  fifteen  to  twenty,  had  left  their  homes  in 
the  district  and  become  pirates,  living  in  a  cave  on  a  vacant 
lot  in  Jardine  Place.  It  was  said  that  the  gang  had  look- 
outs posted  and  lived  by  looting  the  neighboring  houses  of 
milk  and  rolls  and  anything  else  they  could  find.  Inciden- 
tally they  accosted  unsuspecting  youths  and  lured  them  to 
the  pirates'  lair,  where  they  mulcted  them  of  various  sums 
by  playing  poker.  The  game,  the  victims  averred,  always 
seemed  to  be  on  the  side  of  the  pirates. 

A  policeman  in  plain  clothes  stalked  the  juvenile  ban- 
dits at  8  P.  M.  last  night,  and  discovered  that  the  cave  had 
been  excavated  fully  twenty  feet  into  the  ground.  The 
boys  all  carried  tin  battle-axes  and  dark-lanterns,  and  used 
strange  terms  that  were  supposed  to  have  been  in  vogue 


10  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

two  hundred  years  ago  on  the  Spanish  Main.  Sentries 
were  posted,  and  the  password  for  the  night  was  "Sparum 
Poco." 

Not  daring  to  use  such  strange  words,  the  officer  wrig- 
gled through  the  tall  grass  and  weeds  in  Indian  fashion. 
With  his  ear  to  the  ground,  he  heard  one  of  the  pirates  say, 
"Three  ladies  and  a  pair  of  knaves."  To  which  another 
answered,  "Fade  away.  I've  got  four  bullets.  The  pot's 
mine."  Two  of  the  boys  were  arrested  and  taken  to  the 
police  station.  The  other  "pirates"  escaped.1 

Case  2. — A  twelve-year-old  boy,  known  among  his  com- 
panions as  "  Chief  Yockel,  King  of  the  Bandits,"  gave  the 
police  reserves  of  the  Morrisania  Station  several  hours  of 
worry  yesterday  when  he  hid  himself  in  a  cave  of  rocks  and 
refused  to  come  out.  After  the  heavy  stones  had  been  re- 
moved by  the  police  and  a  gang  of  Italian  laborers,  Chief 
Yockel  was  locked  up  in  a  cell  on  a  charge  made  by  his 
mother  that  he  was  incorrigible. 

"My  pals  wouldn't  stick  by  me;  they  all  went  home,"  he 
sobbed  as  he  was  being  locked  up. 

For  several  weeks  Chief  Yockel  and  his  companions  have 
been  using  the  cave  in  a  lot  at  Fox  Street  and  Saint  John's 
Avenue  as  a  place  to  read  dime  novels  and  play  Indian. 
The  cave  was  about  ten  feet  deep  and  the  entrance  was  so 
small  that  only  one  boy  could  enter  at  a  time. 

Monday  afternoon,  Yockel  discovered  his  mother's 
pocket-book  on  the  kitchen  table.  In  it  was  twenty  dollars. 
Quickly  the  "Chief"  gathered  his  followers,  and  announced 
that  the  time  had  come  to  celebrate.  In  the  mean  time  the 
boy's  mother  missed  him  and  her  purse. 

Shortly  after  eight  o'clock  this  morning  an  uncle  of  the 
boy  saw  the  "Chief"  seated  near  the  cave  in  which  he  had 
slept  all  night.  He  started  after  him,  but  the  young  Indian 
wriggled  through  the  opening  and  refused  to  come  out. 
Yockel  appealed  to  the  police.  The  captain  of  the  Morris- 
ania Station  appealed  to  a  gang  of  laborers  across  the  street, 
and  the  work  of  pulling  the  rocks  away  began. 

1  New  York  Times,  September  5,  1908. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  11 

The  police  and  the  laborers  were  afraid  to  work  fast,  for 
the  whole  structure  might  give  way  and  the  boy  in  the  cave 
be  crushed  if  the  keystone  rock  were  moved.  After  an  hour's 
work,  the  boy's  legs  could  be  seen,  and  the  police  tried  to 
throw  a  noose  around  them.  But  the  "Chief"  was  prepared 
for  this  emergency,  and  when  the  rope  slipped  across  his 
feet  he  cut  it.  After  another  hour's  work  the  rocks  were 
removed  and  the  boy  was  dragged  from  the  cave  and  taken 
to  the  police  station.1 

Case  3. — The  Wild  West  dreams  of  five  Saint  Louis  boys, 
whose  ages  range  from  eleven  to  sixteen  years,  suddenly  ter- 
minated yesterday  afternoon,  when  they  were  rounded  up 
by  Saint  Louis  County  officers,  while  the  boys  were  sitting 
around  their  camp-fire  formulating  plans  and  telling  thrilling 
stories.  The  leader  of  the  band  led  the  constable  a  chase  of 
over  a  mile,  in  which  the  officer  fired  half  a  dozen  shots 
before  he  captured  the  boy. 

The  youngsters  were  camping  in  the  woods  about  fifty 
feet  from  the  Rock  Island  Railroad  tracks,  east  of  Clayton. 
The  spot  they  had  selected  to  board  an  outbound  freight 
was  at  the  bottom  of  a  steep  incline,  where  the  train  is 
brought  nearly  to  a  stop. 

Each  of  the  boys  had  a  sharp  knife.  They  all  had  time- 
tables of  railroads,  and  were  figuring  on  reaching  Texas 
within  two  weeks.  They  carried  two  loaves  of  bread  and  a 
pound  of  butter  in  a  sack,  besides  a  pair  of  new  shoes  and  a 
carriage-robe.  Two  of  the  boys  had  on  two  pairs  of  trousers. 
They  had  a  pack  of  playing-cards,  with  which  they  said  they 
intended  to  amuse  themselves  while  in  camp.  They  also 
had  a  package  of  pins,  several  needles,  and  a  spool  of  thread. 

One  of  the  boys  said  that  he  had  bought  the  shoes  found 
in  the  sack,  but  that  they  hurt  his  feet  and  he  had  to  take 
them  off.  They  were  number  ten,  and  the  pair  the  lad  had 
on  were  about  number  five.  The  young  adventurers  claimed 
that  they  found  the  carriage-robe.  They  had  eighty-three 
cents  among  them,  but  said  that  they  expected  to  get  more 
money. 

1  New  York  Times,  March  9,  1910. 


12  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

When  the  constable  asked  them  if  they  expected  to  get 
more  money  by  holding  up  a  train,  they  replied,  "Oh,  maybe 
we  would  do  that,  or  else  crack  a  crib  and  blow  wid  de  cash."  l 

Case  4. — Five  boys,  ranging  from  fourteen  to  fifteen  years 
old,  were  arraigned  before  Justice  Hoyt,  sitting  in  the  Children's 
Court,  yesterday,  charged  with  improper  guardianship.  After 
the  judge  had  heard  their  stories,  they  were  remanded  to  the 
Children's  Society  until  Saturday. 

On  Tuesday  afternoon  a  policeman  of  the  West  Forty- 
seventh  Street  Station  saw  the  boys  acting  suspiciously  in 
the  freight  yard  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  at  the  foot 
of  West  Fifty-seventh  Street.  He  watched  them  for  some 
time  and  saw  the  five  climb  into  an  empty  freight  car  attached 
to  a  train  that  had  just  started  to  move.  He  then  arrested 
them. 

When  the  boys  were  searched,  an  emergency  kit  was  found 
containing  one  roll  of  six-inch  gauze  bandages,  two  boxes  of 
pills,  one  package  of  court-plaster,  two  bottles  of  cough- 
mixture,  two  bologna-sausage  rings,  and  three  loaves  of 
bread. 

In  court  yesterday  the  one  who  acted  as  spokesman  said 
that  they  had  formed  a  club  some  time  ago  to  get  the  necessary 
things  to  beat  their  way  West.  When  asked  what  they  in- 
tended to  do  with  the  bandages,  he  said,  "You  can't  tell 
what  will  happen  to  you  when  you  get  West,  and  we  didn't 
want  to  take  any  chances.  We  figured  that  we  could  get 
grub  from  somewhere,  but  if  we  got  mixed  up  in  a  wreck  or 
caught  cold,  bandages  and  medicines  would  be  the  things  we 
would  need." 

Their  parents  said  the  boys  had  been  model  children.2 

Case  5. — The  efforts  of  two  boys,  fifteen  and  sixteen  years 
of  age,  from  New  Rochelle,  New  York,  to  lead  a  frontier  life 
came  to  an  end  last  night  when  the  Portland  police  raided  the 
camp  they  had  built  in  the  woods.  The  policemen  confiscated 
pistols  and  lassos  and  took  the  boys  to  the  police  station. 

1  Saint  Louis  Globe-Democrat,  January  8,  1909. 
1  New  York  Times,  May  5,  1910. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  13 

The  officers  had  received  word  from  relatives  of  the  boys 
to  look  for  them  in  this  section,  and  learned  of  their  camp 
through  word  brought  by  trappers.  They  had  built  a  rough 
hut  of  small  logs,  and,  as  they  had  a  little  money,  had  been 
living  well.  They  were  loth  to  leave  their  comfortable 
quarters.1 

Case  6. — Thinking  that  it  would  be  fun  to  frighten  one  of 
their  schoolfellows  by  sending  him  a  Black-Hand  letter,  two 
New  York  boys,  fourteen  years  old,  wrote  a  note  to  another 
boy,  the  son  of  wealthy  parents,  demanding  ten  dollars  and 
threatening  death  if  it  were  not  forthcoming. 

The  letter  was  signed,  "King  of  the  Black  Hand,"  and 
was  profusely  ornamented  with  skulls,  cross-bones,  and 
daggers. 

Two  detectives  were  ordered  to  find  the  writer.  The 
boys  who  had  sent  the  letter  smilingly  came  to  the  detec- 
tives and  told  them  that  they  had  written  it  for  fun.  To 
their  great  astonishment  they  were  immediately  arrested 
and  locked  up.2 

Case  7. — Moving  pictures  illustrating  cow-boy  life  inter- 
ested a  fourteen-year-old  youngster  to  the  point  of  emulation 
as  he  sat  in  the  "Mystic  Arcade."  As  soon  as  the  lights  were 
turned  on  he  jumped  up,  pushed  his  two  boy  companions  out 
into  the  aisle,  and,  pulling  from  his  hip-pocket  a  revolver, 
pointed  it  at  their  feet  and  called  out,  "Dance,  you  tender- 
feet." 

There  were  two  hundred  people,  mostly  women  and  chil- 
dren, in  the  theatre,  and  so  lustily  did  the  boy  shout,  and  so 
freely  did  he  swing  his  pistol,  that  there  arose  a  commotion 
on  all  sides.  Women  screamed  and  made  for  the  doors. 

The  manager  of  the  theatre  came  hurrying  down  the  aisle. 
The  boy  swung  the  revolver  in  line  with  him. 

"Hands  up,"  he  called.  The  manager  took  one  jump  over 
the  orchestra  railing  and  dived  behind  the  piano. 

A  patrolman  of  the  Fourth  Avenue  Station  saw  women 

1  New  York  Times,  June  27,  1910. 

1  Saint  Louis  Post-Dispatch,  February  n,  1910. 


14  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

hurrying  out  of  the  theatre.  He  ran  in,  saw  the  revolver, 
and  made  for  it.  The  boy,  seeing  him  come,  quietly  held  out 
the  pistol  reversed. 

"Well,  partner,"  said  he,  "I  guess  you've  got  the  drop  on 
me." 

The  policeman  took  him  to  the  station  and  there  found 
that  the  pistol  was  not  loaded.  They  sent  the  boy  to  the  Chil- 
dren's Society  as  a  juvenile  delinquent  and  will  arraign  him 
to-day  in  the  Children's  Court.1 

Case  8. — Two  boys,  aged  twelve  and  thirteen,  who  said  they 
ran  away  from  their  homes  in  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  to  emu- 
late Robinson  Crusoe  and  live  in  a  little  hut  in  some  big  woods, 
subsisting  only  on  fish,  were  arrested  yesterday  morning  at 
Main  and  Vine  Streets,  hungry  as  bears  and  crying  because 
of  the  cold  and  exposure.  They  said  that  they  had  walked 
from  Jacksonville,  and,  as  their  parents  would  not  have  enough 
money  to  send  for  them,  requested  that  they  be  cared  for  by 
the  police.  They  were  sent  to  the  House  of  Detention.2 

A  pleasant  home  with  kind  parents  whose  chief 
concern  is  the  happiness  and  welfare  of  their  chil- 
dren is  sometimes  thought  to  be  the  best  antidote 
for  juvenile  escapades,  but  the  desire  for  adventure 
is  not  limited  to  any  one  class  of  boys,  as  is  shown 
by  the  following: 

Case  9. — The  thirteen-year-old  son  of  a  prominent  New 
York  architect,  who  disappeared  from  his  home  on  Riverside 
Drive  yesterday,  walked  into  the  home  of  his  uncle  in 
Washington,  D.  C.,  this  morning  and  said  that  he  was  almost 
starved.  The  boy  was  chilled  to  the  bone,  since,  in  the  course 
of  his  adventures,  he  had  sold  his  overcoat  to  buy  a  steam-boat 
ticket  to  Europe. 

The  lad  was  highly  pleased  when  he  learned  that  his  dis- 

1  New  York  Times,  January  31,  1909. 

1  Saint  Louis  Globe-Democrat,  January  29,  1912. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  15 

appearance  had  aroused  fears  that  he  had  gone  to  the  East 
Side  and  fallen  into  the  clutches  of  the  Black  Hand,  and  his 
expression  indicated  that  he  would  have  done  just  that  if  he 
had  thought  of  it. 

What  he  had  done,  however,  was  to  leave  New  York  for 
the  purpose  of  seeing  the  world.  He  reached  Philadelphia 
yesterday.  But  the  city  did  not  suit  him,  so  he  decided  to  go 
to  Europe.  He  walked  down  to  the  wharves  and  priced  out- 
bound passage.  A  ticket,  he  discovered,  cost  more  money 
than  he  had,  so  he  sold  his  overcoat  to  make  up  the  difference. 
Then  he  marched  aboard,  only  to  be  held  up  by  the  captain, 
questioned,  and  sent  ashore. 

He  then  started  for  Washington,  where  he  arrived  late  last 
night.  Wandering  around  near  the  Union  Station — he  seems 
at  first  to  have  had  no  idea  of  appealing  to  his  relatives — he 
came  to  the  house  of  the  captain  of  the  Senate  Office  Build- 
ing police  force  and  asked  for  a  room.  He  was  taken  in,  but 
the  officer  became  suspicious  and  questions  followed.  The 
boy  then  told  of  his  adventures,  and  early  this  morning,  on 
the  advice  of  his  new  friend,  the  boy  took  a  trolley  for  his 
uncle's  home.1 

When  opportunity  for  adventures  of  a  legitimate 
and  wholesome  sort  is  not  given,  city  life,  cheap 
novels,  and  low-grade  shows  have  their  way  of 
supplying  the  deficiency,  and  the  racial  instincts 
may  then  culminate  in  actions  much  more  serious 
than  running  away  from  home  to  lead  a  frontier 
life,  sending  Black-Hand  letters,  or  flourishing  an 
empty  revolver.  The  following  are  illustrations: 

Case  i. — The  arrest  of  five  boys,  one  of  whom  was  ten  years 
old,  two  others  twelve,  while  the  fourth  and  fifth  were  four- 
teen and  nineteen,  revealed  the  attempt  of  these  youngsters 
last  Saturday  to  wreck  the  early  New  Haven  Railroad  train 

1  New  York  Times,  January  22,  1912. 


16  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

leaving  New  York  shortly  after  noon.  The  purpose,  as  they 
confessed,  was  to  loot  the  bodies  of  the  dead  and  injured. 
They  got  as  far  as  opening  the  switch,  near  the  East  Port- 
chester  freight  yard,  having  either  found  or  stolen  the  key. 

That  their  plan  did  not  succeed  was  due  to  the  fact  that  a 
switchman  happened  to  see  them  throw  the  switch  and  closed 
it  in  time  to  avert  an  accident. 

The  train  they  wanted  to  wreck  carries  one  of  the  special 
club  cars  on  which  travel  a  score  or  more  of  multi-millionaires 
who  have  homes  either  in  Greenwich  or  Stamford  and  who 
come  out  early  on  Saturdays. 

The  probation  officers  and  prosecuting  attorney  stood 
aghast  this  morning  when  one  of  the  boys  coolly  told  of  the 
plot  and  stated  that  the  reason  of  the  attempted  crime  was 
the  hope  of  getting  a  few  dollars  from  the  pockets  of  the  dead 
and  wounded. 

The  boys  further  told  of  having  formed  a  regular  organiza- 
tion which  imposed  elaborate  oaths  of  secrecy  and  a  part  of 
whose  formula  consisted  in  crossing  their  hearts  never  to  tell 
any  of  the  deeds  that  any  member  of  the  gang  perpetrated. 
These  oaths  did  not  interfere  with  their  desire  to  confess  when 
they  had  once  been  thoroughly  frightened. 

The  crime,  the  boys  said,  was  inspired  by  a  moving-picture 
show  that  portrayed  a  train  hold-up.1 

Case  2. — A  thirteen-year-old  boy  from  the  Bronx,  having 
learned  from  a  moving-picture  show  the  first  steps  in  burglary, 
went  out  on  Saturday  night  with  a  brace  and  bit  to  gather  in 
some  candy  for  himself  and  friends.  He  had  his  eye  on  a  candy 
store  in  the  East  Chester  Station  of  the  New  York,  New  Haven 
and  Hartford  Railroad.  He  bored  holes  all  around  the  lock 
of  the  door  and  then  cut  it  out.  Loading  himself  with  eight 
dollars'  worth  of  candy  he  withdrew. 

A  detective  of  the  Westchester  Station,  who  had  been  as- 
signed to  the  case,  found  a  plethora  of  candy  in  the  morning 
and  learned  that  the  youngster  had  given  it  to  his  friends. 
The  boy  was  at  home  when  the  officer  reached  there.  Upon 

1  Saint  Louis  Post-Dispatch,  March  I,  1910. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  17 

arrest  for  juvenile  delinquency  he  told  the  detective  that  he 
got  his  idea  of  burglary  from  an  East  Chester  moving-picture 
show.1 

Case  3. — Classes  at  the  Humboldt  and  Assumption  schools 
were  excited  Tuesday  when  policemen  entered  and  arrested 
two  boys,  one  thirteen  years  of  age  and  the  other  eleven,  who 
were  accused  of  stealing  seventy-five  dollars  from  a  grocery 
store  Sunday  afternoon. 

The  boys  confessed  and  implicated  another  boy  fifteen  years 
old.  He  was  arrested  at  his  home,  where  something  over  forty- 
five  dollars  was  found  concealed  in  a  mustard  bottle  in  the 
attic. 

The  boys  gained  entrance  through  the  back  door  of  the 
grocery,  which  was  guarded  by  an  iron  bar. 

The  thirteen-year-old  lad  bought  a  pair  of  roller-skates  and 
a  camera,  and  hired  a  buggy  in  which  he  took  a  girl  driving 
Sunday  afternoon.  Four  dollars  in  pennies,  which  he  dis- 
dained to  spend,  he  gave  to  a  small  boy. 

The  boys  are  locked-  up  at  the  Soulard  Street  Station.2 

Case  4. — Two  small  boys,  one  thirteen  years  of 
age  and  the  other  nine,  were  arrested  in  New  York 
and  sent  to  the  Children's  Society,  charged  with 
having  sent  a  "Black-Hand"  letter  to  a  wealthy 
woman.  The  letter  was  as  follows: 

We  demand  $2,500  as  a  Black  Hand  organization.  If  it  is 
not  paid  we  will  blow  up  your  home  and  all  your  family.  We 
have  four  hundred  and  eighty-eight  members  scattered  all 
over  the  world.  You  cannot  escape  us.  Don't  let  the  police 
know  of  this,  or  any  one  else,  for,  if  you  do,  we  will  not  let  up 
on  you  if  you  offer  us  $100,000.  Rich  people  pay  our  demands, 
and  they  have  no  more  bother,  because  we  protect  them.  Do 
as  we  ask  or  we  will  blow  up  your  home  and  destroy  every  one 
in  it  with  revolver  or  dagger,  or  send  them  poisoned  food. 

1  New  York  Times,  June  6,  1910. 

*  Saint  Louis  Post-Dispatch,  March  24,  1908. 


18  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

There  was  a  break  in  the  letter  here  to  make 
room  for  the  picture  of  a  dagger-pierced  heart,  a 
revolver,  and  a  bottle  marked  "poison."  Then 
the  letter  continued: 

After  you  pay  $2,500  you  will  be  free  from  all  expense. 
Take  twenty-five  #100  bills  on  Thursday  evening,  between 
8  and  9  p.  M.  Deposit  the  money  in  a  tin  box  and  place  it 
under  some  leaves  on  the  ground  close  to  the  park  wall  at  the 
first  light  post  at  the  right  hand  of  the  small  entrance  to  Cen- 
tral Park,  between  Sixty-sixth  and  Sixty-seventh  Streets,  op- 
posite your  house,  and  let  it  stay  there  till  you  get  a  letter 
from  us  that  we  received  it. 

BLACK  HAND. 

On  the  advice  of  detectives  the  woman  decided 
to  carry  out  the  instructions.  Disguised  officers 
were  to  follow  her. 

Shortly  before  nine  o'clock  last  night  she  stepped  from  her 
house,  crossed  Fifth  Avenue  to  the  park,  and  deposited  a  tin 
box  under  some  leaves  by  the  park  wall.  The  detectives 
watched  her  until  she  returned  to  the  house.  Then  from  be- 
hind the  park  wall  they  took  up  their  vigil.  It  was  some  min- 
utes after  nine  o'clock  before  they  were  rewarded  by  seeing 
two  boys  walk  down  Fifth  Avenue  and  poke  beneath  the 
leaves.  Finally  the  larger  boy  came  upon  the  box  and  to- 
gether the  youngsters  started  off  on  Fifth  Avenue. 

The  detectives  followed  them  for  a  block  or  so  and  then 
pounced  upon  the  two,  separating  them  immediately  so  that 
they  could  not  converse  and  neither  one  could  hear  what 
questions  were  asked  of  the  other.  The  smaller  boy  wept 
bitterly  as  he  felt  the  officer's  hand  on  his  shoulder  and  began 
to  scream  and  cry  for  his  mother.  The  elder  boy,  who  still 
clutched  the  box,  took  his  arrest  stoically. 

"What's  in  the  box,  kid?"  asked  the  detective  of  the  elder 
boy. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  19 

"I  don't  know  what's  in  it,"  replied  the  lad.  "A  man  I 
met  at  Seventeenth  Street  and  Third  Avenue  offered  me  a 
quarter  to  come  and  get  this  for  him." 

"What  did  he  look  like?"  asked  the  officer. 

"Why,  he  was  a  tall  man  with  a  black  mustache." 

The  other  officer  meantime  was  asking  the  same  questions 
of  the  younger  boy,  and  got  the  same  replies  until  he  asked  for 
a  description  of  the  man. 

"He  looks  just  like  you,"  whimpered  the  little  chap. 

This  officer  had  no  mustache.  Convinced  also  by  the  actions 
of  the  boys  that  they  had  written  the  letter,  the  detectives 
took  them  to  the  Children's  Society. 

The  older  boy  had  a  lot  of  cigarette  pictures,  such  as  come 
in  packages  of  certain  brands  of  cigarettes,  and  a  list  of  dime 
novels,  blood-thirsty  ones,  to  judge  by  their  titles.  He  was 
anything  but  blood-thirsty  himself,  however,  when  he  was 
ushered  into  the  society's  rooms.1 

Case  5. — Two  brothers,  ten  and  fifteen  years  old,  respec- 
tively, were  arrested  in  an  Illinois  town  by  a  deputy  sheriff 
on  a  charge  of  placing  an  obstruction  on  a  railroad  track  to 
wreck  a  train. 

It  is  alleged  they  put  twenty  large  spikes  between  the  ends 
of  two  rails,  wedged  in  such  a  manner  that  they  would  in  all 
probability  have  wrecked  a  fast  passenger  train  which  was 
due  but  a  few  minutes  from  the  time  the  spikes  were  dis- 
covered. 

A  workman  saw  the  boys  running  away  and  discov- 
ered the  obstruction,  which  was  a  short  distance  above 
the  depot  at  Loraine.  He  removed  the  spikes  and  reported 
the  matter. 

There  was  snow  on  the  ground  and  the  boys  were  tracked 
to  their  place  of  concealment.2 

Case  6. — Many  daring  burglaries  in  Pittsburg  are  charged 
against  three  brothers,  the  youngest  seven  years  old  and  the 
oldest  under  fifteen,  who  are  now  locked  up  in  the  South  Side 

1  New  York  Times,  February  25,  1909. 

*  Saint  Louis  Post-Dispatch,  March  2,  1908. 


20  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

Police  Station.  For  two  days  policemen  had  been  tracing 
them. 

Eight  Mount  Washington  homes  are  said  to  have  been 
entered  by  them  during  the  last  three  nights.  Much  valuable 
booty  was  secured  and  hidden  away  in  the  dark  recesses  of 
an  abandoned  coal  mine  just  across  the  Monongahela  River 
from  Pittsburg.  There  they  lived  like  brigands  and  planned 
their  night  attacks  on  South  Side  houses. 

Partly  burned  candles,  with  which  they  had  lighted  their 
rendezvous,  food,  knives,  bayonets,  and  swords  were  among 
the  things  found  by  the  police  when  they  searched  the  cave.1 

While  adventures  that  girls  seek  are  usually 
different  from  those  enjoyed  by  boys,  still  this  sex 
differentiation  does  not  always  occur  in  early  girl- 
hood, as  is  shown  by  the  following  press  clippings : 

Case  I. — A  woman,  whose  home  is  in  Marion,  Illinois,  has 
asked  the  chief  of  police  to  assist  her  in  finding  her  daughter, 
fourteen  years  old,  who  disappeared  from  her  home  a  week 
ago,  after  telling  some  of  her  girl  friends  that  she  proposed 
to  become  a  female  detective.  The  girl  took  twenty-three 
dollars  in  cash  with  her. 

Just  before  she  left  home  she  wrote  to  her  best  girl  friend 
and  told  her  of  her  intentions.  After  she  arrived  in  Saint 
Louis,  she  mailed  another  postal  card  to  her  chum,  but  there 
was  no  indication  of  where  the  girl  was  living  in  this  city. 

The  conductor  of  the  train  on  which  the  girl  came  to  Saint 
Louis  told  the  police  that  she  represented  herself  to  be  an 
orphan  and  said  that  she  was  on  her  way  to  visit  an  aunt. 
She  paid  her  fare  and  the  conductor  gave  her  no  special 
attention.2 

Case  2. — A  twelve-year-old  girl,  the  daughter  of  a  well-to-do 
brick  mason,  confessed  yesterday  in  the  Children's  Court  that, 

1  New  York  Times,  June  28,  1910. 
*  Saint  Louis  Post-Dispatch. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  21 

twice  during  the  week,  she  had  set  fire  to  the  apartment  house 
in  which  she  lived.  The  reason  which  she  gave  was  that  she 
had  seen  such  things  pictured  on  the  screen  of  a  Bronx 
moving-picture  theatre. 

The  child  admitted  that  it  was  she  who  had  written  a 
threatening  letter  which  was  found  tied  to  the  door-knob  of 
her  father's  apartment,  and  in  which  she  demanded  fifty 
dollars  as  the  price  needed  to  keep  her  from  burning  up  the 
house  and  everybody  in  it.  She  also  laid  the  Black  Hand  part 
of  her  scheme  to  moving  pictures. 

On  Monday  a  fire  was  started  in  some  rubbish  that  had  been 
placed  by  the  girl  in  the  hallway  on  the  second  floor.  The 
fire  was  discovered  by  a  tenant,  and  was  extinguished  without 
the  aid  of  the  firemen.  The  next  day  a  second  fire  was  started 
near  the  same  place.  Again  the  tenants  were  able  to  put  it 
out  before  the  firemen  arrived. 

The  tenants  realized  that  an  incendiary  was  at  work  and 
were  greatly  concerned,  many  of  them  remaining  up  all  night 
Tuesday  to  watch.  The  police  were  notified,  as  was  also  the 
fire  marshal.  A  detective  was  assigned  to  the  case,  and  early 
Wednesday  morning  he  went  to  the  house  with  the  fire  marshal 
to  investigate. 

The  father  of  the  child  turned  over  to  them  a  letter  which 
he  had  found  tied  to  his  door-knob  that  morning.  The  letter 
read: 

"If  you  don't  put  fifty  dollars  under  the  door-mat  we  will 
burn  your  home  and  everybody  in  it. 

"  BLACK  HAND." 

The  detective  saw  that  the  letter  was  in  the  handwriting 
of  a  child,  and  he  questioned  every  child  in  the  apartment 
house.  When  it  came  little  Ethel's  turn  to  be  quizzed  she 
at  first  denied  the  authorship,  but  when  she  was  shown  that 
she  wrote  the  same  kind  of  a  hand  as  that  in  which  the  letter 
was  written  she  broke  down  and  confessed. 

"I  saw  a  moving  picture  in  which  there  was  a  fire  and 
people  were  rescued,"  the  child  sobbed,  "and  I  also  saw  one 
where  the  Black  Hand  tried  to  get  money.  I  don't  know 
why  I  did  it,  but  I  did  not  mean  to  do  wrong." 


22  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

The  parents  of  the  child  were  the  most  surprised  of  all  the 
tenants  at  the  confession.1 


Cast  3. — Two  girl  highway  robbers  are  being  sought  by 
the  police  of  Newark  for  holding  up  a  number  of  young  girls 
on  the  street  and  taking  money  from  them. 

Both  the  girl  bandits  are  described  as  about  fifteen  years 
old,  well  dressed,  and  pretty.  For  the  past  several  nights  the 
young  robbers  have  been  operating  through  the  streets  of 
Newark  in  the  crowded  district  of  Broad  and  Market  Streets. 
Their  victims  in  every  instance  were  children  who  were  sent 
on  errands  with  money. 

One  of  the  girls  held  the  victim  while  the  other  tore  her 
pocket-book  from  her  hand.  The  girl  who  took  the  purse  ex- 
tracted the  money,  threw  the  pocket-book  in  the  owner's  face, 
and  walked  away.2 

Case  4. — A  girl,  thirteen  years  old,  is  in  jail  at  Cuyahoga 
Falls,  charged  with  attempted  bank  robbery.  She  will  be 
brought  to  the  county  jail  to-night.  This  afternoon  she  en- 
tered the  Falls  Savings  Bank  armed  with  a  revolver.  She 
asked  for  the  cashier,  but  he  was  out,  and  the  assistant  was 
in  charge.  She  sat  in  the  outer  office  for  a  few  moments,  then 
approached  the  man  at  the  window,  and,  levelling  the  gun  at 
his  head,  said: 

"Give  me  the  money  in  those  vaults." 

The  man  was  startled,  but  replied  that  the  vaults  were 
closed  and  he  could  not  open  them. 

"Then  give  me  what  you  have  in  your  pockets,"  was  her 
next  demand. 

"I  have  no  money,"  he  answered. 

Disappointed,  the  young  bank  robber  hesitated,  backed  to 
the  door,  and  started  down  the  street  on  the  run.  She  was 
arrested  later  by  a  policeman. 

The  girl  lives  at  the  Falls  and  is  of  a  respectable  family. 

1  New  York  Times,  July  15,  1910. 

J  New  York  World,  September  3,  1906. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  23 

She  has  been  impatient  of  parental  restraint  and  is  fond  of 
Wild  West  literature.1 

Case  5. — A  girl  fourteen  years  of  age  wound  up  an  exciting 
escapade  of  two  days  at  Niles,  Michigan,  this  afternoon  by 
calmly  going  to  sleep,  after  she  had  been  locked  up,  charged 
with  horse-stealing.  She  had  given  her  parents  and  friends  a 
terrible  fright. 

Stimulated  only  by  cookies  and  confections  and  her  own 
lively  imagination,  the  young  miss  carried  through  her  lark 
with  a  high-handed  disregard  for  consequences.  She  rented 
a  horse  and  buggy  at  a  Niles  livery,  after  running  away  from 
home  yesterday.  Then  she  made  a  round  of  several  bakery 
shops  and  confectionery  stores  and  loaded  the  buggy  with 
pies,  cakes,  and  candies.  Thus  provisioned,  she  started  out 
to  see  the  country. 

She  drove  seven  miles  to  Buchanan  before  nightfall.  Near 
Buchanan  she  stabled  her  horse  and  spent  a  comfortable  night 
at  a  farm-house,  after  inventing  a  story  to  satisfy  the  farmer 
that  she  was  not  a  runaway. 

To-day  she  resumed  her  trip,  stopping  occasionally  to  rest 
her  horse  and  to  open  a  fresh  bag  of  sweets.  By  the  middle 
of  the  afternoon  she  had  covered  the  thirty  miles  between 
Buchanan  and  Michigan  City. 

"  I  don't  care,"  the  girl  remarked,  when  told  that  a  telegram 
had  been  sent  her  father.  "I  certainly  have  had  the  time  of 
my  life." 

When  her  father  and  an  officer  from  Niles  arrived  here  to- 
night they  found  the  child  asleep.  She  was  taken  reluctantly 
home  an  hour  later.1 

The  following  are  more  typical  of  girls'  advent- 
ures, representing,  as  they  do,  their  desire  to  do — 
or  pretend  to  do — the  thing  that  makes  them 
socially  conspicuous  in  their  set.  In  the  first  in- 

1  Saint  Louis  Republic,  July  12,  1911. 
*NfW  York  Times,  August  12,  1911. 


24  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

stance  it  was  automobiling.  This  also  illustrates 
the  enjoyment  which  girls  experience  in  finery. 
The  story  of  having  been  kidnapped  was  invented 
to  account  for  the  possession  of  an  automobile 
dress  which  the  child  had  purchased  after  long 
economy.  Besides  the  enjoyment  which  she  her- 
self would  derive  from  the  dress,  though  she  might 
never  have  an  opportunity  to  ride  in  an  automo- 
bile, its  possession,  together  with  suitable  stories, 
would  enable  her  to  boast  to  her  playmates  about 
her  rides.  After  purchasing  the  dress,  however, 
she  found  it  necessary  to  account  to  her  parents 
for  such  a  useless  garment.  How  she  did  this  will 
be  seen  in  the  following  newspaper  account: 

Case  i. — Numbered  trading-stamps  led  to  the  collapse  of 
the  remarkable  fiction,  worthy  of  a  moving-picture  dramatist, 
by  which  a  girl  of  twelve  explained  her  absence  from  home 
from  Monday  morning  until  Tuesday  morning.  She  wrote  a 
confession  Wednesday  and  signed  it  in  the  presence  of  her 
mother  and  detectives,  in  which  she  declared  the  story  of 
being  kidnapped  in  an  automobile  by  two  men  to  be  a  pure 
fabrication,  conceived  by  her  own  imagination. 

Trading-stamps  were  found  in  her  possession  on  her  return 
to  her  home,  and  she  explained  them  by  saying  they  were  given 
with  a  cheap  automobile  dress  and  veil  which  the  men  by 
whom  she  was  supposed  to  have  been  kidnapped  purchased 
for  her. 

From  the  number  on  the  stamps  it  was  learned  that  the 
sale  was  made  at  a  certain  large  department  store,  and  the 
clerk  remembered  that  the  girl  made  the  purchases  herself. 
She  now  admits  she  bought  the  dress  and  veil  with  money 
she  had  saved  during  several  months. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  25 

She  says  that  she  invented  the  story  to  excuse  her  truancy 
from  school.  The  narrative  was  crammed  with  thrills.  It 
began  on  her  way  to  school,  when  an  automobile  panted  up 
beside  the  pavement,  and  a  man  sprang  out,  gagged  her  with 
a  handkerchief,  and  bundled  her  into  the  machine.  His  com- 
panion in  the  automobile  poured  a  liquid  on  the  handkerchief, 
which  she  knew  was  chloroform,  because  it  put  her  to  sleep. 

She  awoke  in  a  West  End  lodging  house,  according  to  her 
story,  and  the  men  were  with  her.  They  then  chloroformed 
her  again.  She  awoke  in  the  morning  and  the  new  clothes 
were  given  to  her. 

The  men  discarded  the  automobile  for  a  storm  buggy  and 
drove  her  to  Union  Station,  telling  her  she  was  to  be  taken  to 
Chicago  and  would  never  see  Saint  Louis  again. 

Not  until  she  was  on  the  train  did  she  succeed  in  eluding 
them,  by  pretending  to  want  a  drink  and  slipping  out  of  the 
car  while  on  the  errand.1 


Another  instance  which  was  reported  to  the 
writer  is  exceedingly  interesting  in  the  wealth  of 
fancy  woven  into  the  play  as  it  was  acted  by  the 
girl. 

Case  2. — The  girl  was  sixteen  years  of  age.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  respectable,  hard-working  parents.  Her  father 
kept  a  small  shop  and  by  frugality  and  close  attention  to 
business  maintained  his  family  in  comfortable  circumstances 
and  sent  his  children  to  school.  The  town  was  so  large  that 
the  school  children  knew  nothing  about  the  home  life  of  many 
of  their  associates.  This  enabled  the  daughter  to  weave  the 
following  exhilarating  romance  into  her  life. 

Her/ather  and  mother,  the  girl  told  her  school  associates, 
spent  most  of  their  time  in  Europe.  When  they  were  not 
travelling  abroad  they  lived  in  their  summer  cottage  in 
Michigan,  and,  by  way  of  helping  the  imagination  of  her 

1  Saint  Louis  Post-Dispatch,  March  2,  1910. 


26  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

friends  to  picture  her  luxury,  she  showed  photographs  which 
she  had  purchased  of  a  pretty  summer  cottage. 

She  arranged  a  girls'  box  party  at  the  theatre,  at  her  own 
expense,  and  invited  one  of  the  teachers  to  accompany  them 
as  chaperon.  The  money  to  defray  the  expenses  was  skilfully 
purloined  from  the  till  of  her  father's  shop  which  she  was 
required  to  tend  after  close  of  school.  Of  course,  her  guests 
must  be  supplied  with  flowers,  but  this  caused  no  serious  diffi- 
culty, as  a  relative  kept  a  greenhouse  in  which  she  was  fre- 
quently left  alone.  The  box  party  became  somewhat  complex, 
however,  because  she  could  only  tell  her  family  that  she  was 
going  to  the  theatre,  and  her  mother,  naturally,  could  not 
allow  her  to  go  alone.  But  she  was  equal  to  the  emergency 
and  proposed  that  her  older  sister  accompany  her.  On  their 
arrival  she  told  her  sister  that  one  of  the  teachers  was  giving 
a  box  party  and  had  invited  her  to  sit  with  them.  She  then 
joined  her  school  friends  and  chaperon  in  the  box. 

Of  course,  the  romance  would  not  have  been  complete 
without  a  devoted  young  admirer.  So  she  gave  her  girl 
friends  the  name  of  one  of  the  officers  of  the  street  railway 
company,  which  she  found  on  a  transfer.  Occasionally  she 
pointed  him  out,  always  selecting  some  young  man  who  was 
just  disappearing  in  the  distance.  She  also  displayed  flowers 
which  he  had  sent  to  her,  roses  that  she  had  secretly  taken 
from  the  greenhouse  of  her  relative.  Several  times  she  said 
that  he  had  invited  her  to  take  a  drive  with  him  and  had  told 
her  to  ask  a  girl  friend  to  accompany  them.  A  sudden  mes- 
sage, however,  invariably  called  him  back  to  business,  and 
his  disappearing  form  was  always  pointed  out.  Meanwhile 
he  had  left  the  horse  and  carriage — which  she  had  hired  with 
money  taken  from  her  father's  money  drawer — in  front  of  the 
school  building. 

It  was  a  pretty  little  play  of  an  imaginative, 
adolescent  girl  who  found  the  monotony  of  tend- 
ing shop  and  doing  housework  inadequate  to  her 
romantic  years.  Of  course,  she  was  discovered  at 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  27 

last  and  her  parents,  in  chagrin,  withdrew  her  from 
school.  She  is  now  watching  the  shop  again,  a 
quiet,  sedate  young  woman. 

We  judge  acts  according  to  the  standardized 
estimate  of  the  worth  or  execrability  of  the  deed, 
and  for  that  reason  we  are  usually  mistaken  in 
our  judgment.  Were  ethics  so  simple  it  would 
never  have  become  so  perplexing  as  to  require 
volumes  to  elucidate  a  theory  with  as  many  more 
for  its  refutation.  Life  is  entanglingly  complex. 
Traditions,  beliefs  arising  in  the  social  and  relig- 
ious institutions  of  the  past,  and  racial  vestiges 
which  express  themselves  in  instinctive  tendencies, 
combat  one  another  with  their  contradictions,  to 
puzzle  the  thoughtful  and  obscure  the  right  course 
of  action.  To  the  unthinking,  life  is  all  quite  plain, 
or  at  any  rate  easily  defined.  "Don't  fear  to  ax 
for  what  you  want,"  said  John  Bloom.1  "There's 
no  rule  against  axing.  There's  no  rule  anywhere, 
an'  good  an'  bad's  a  toss  up.  You  may  pull  a 
prize  out  of  your  life — or  you  may  not.  Every- 
thing's run  by  chance,  according  to  the  plan  of 
Providence." 

The  very  fact  that  unmitigated  condemnation 
of  these  attempts  at  adventure  presupposes  under- 
lying simplicity  of  impulse  is  alone  sufficient  to 
throw  doubt  upon  the  correctness  of  the  judgment. 

1  "The  Secret  Woman,"  by  Eden  Phillpotts. 


28  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

The  motives  leading  to  human  action  are  never 
simple,  and  they  rarely  reveal  themselves  to  super- 
ficial observers.  This  is  the  reason  for  the  rule  of 
skilful  detectives  never  to  accept  the  simple  expla- 
nation of  a  crime.  "Always  distrust  appearances; 
believe  precisely  the  contrary  of  what  appears 
true,  or  even  probable,"  said  Tirauclair  to  the 
young  Lecoq. 

In  trying  to  ascertain  whether  love  for  the  wild 
and  the  spirit  of  adventure  have  any  racial  justi- 
fication for  existence,  it  is  first  necessary  to  ex- 
amine the  attitude  of  young  children  toward  cer- 
tain natural  phenomena.  This  was  briefly  done, 
and  investigations  in  support  of  the  position  were 
cited  in  an  earlier  part  of  this  chapter.  Such 
racial  justification  having  been  discovered,  educa- 
tion must  take  account  of  the  fact  and  provide 
for  the  gratification  of  these  instincts,  because 
they  represent  the  first  break  from  the  animal 
cunning  of  man's  arboreal  ancestors — nature's  first 
attempt  at  something  higher  than  brute  ethics — 
as  well  as  for  the  reason  that  if  allowed  to  mature 
without  control,  these  instincts  retain  all  their 
primitive  non-social  or  anti-social  characteristics. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  education  of  boys  is 
so  planned  as  to  furnish  an  outlet  for  this  racial 
energy  through  sports  and  serious  activities  that 
involve  social  relations,  while  still  satisfying  the 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  29 

craving  for  excitement  and  adventure,  these  same 
instincts  then  become  powerful  educative  forces. 
As  the  psychical  characteristics  by  which  early 
man  maintained  his  existence  and  gained  suprem- 
acy over  the  beasts  from  which  these  traits  alone 
separated  him,  they  are  the  beginning  of  human 
mind  and  the  source  of  all  positive,  modern  virtues. 
In  judging  the  behavior  of  children  it  is  impor- 
tant to  remember  that  the  higher  cerebral  centres 
are  just  beginning  to  secure  the  control  which  at 
maturity  should  be  theirs.  Primitive  impulses  are 
still  rampant.  Principles  of  conduct  do  not  yet 
possess  the  boy.  The  racial  mind  is  contending  for 
supremacy  with  modern  ethics  and  culture.  Even 
in  the  adult  this  control  of  the  higher  centres  is  at 
times  relaxed,  and  then  the  unrelenting  fierceness 
of  our  early  ancestors  reveals  itself  in  all  its  cruelty. 
Illustrations  are  almost  superfluous.  During  the 
French  Revolution  men  carried  away  the  hearts  of 
their  victims  as  proof  of  their  prowess,  and  exhib- 
ited as  trophies  the  heads  which  had  been  hacked 
off  with  pocket-knives.  Lest  these  acts  may  be 
thought  characteristic  of  a  peculiar  people  in  an 
earlier,  less  thoughtful  age,  the  writer  may,  per- 
haps, be  pardoned  for  recalling  the  brutal  fight  for 
souvenirs  over  the  dead  body  of  aeronaut  John- 
stone,  at  Denver,  Colorado,  November  17,  1910. 
"One  of  the  broken  wooden  stays  had  gone  almost 


30  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

through  Johnstone's  body.  Before  doctors  or  po- 
lice could  reach  the  scene,  one  man  had  torn  this 
splinter  from  the  body  and  run  away,  carrying  his 
trophy  with  the  aviator's  blood  still  dripping  from 
its  ends.  Frantic,  the  crowd  tore  away  the  canvas 
from  over  his  body  and  fought  for  the  gloves  that 
had  protected  his  hands  from  the  cold."  l 

Such  acts  as  these,  revolting  as  they  are,  do  not 
necessarily  indicate  degeneracy.  They  show  the 
ancient  savage  let  loose  in  modern  man,  and  when 
that  happens  the  veneer  of  culture  and  altruism 
acquired  during  the  comparatively  few  years  of 
civilization  cannot  restrain  the  brute.  Gaining 
trophies  is  one  way  of  emitting  glory,  and  there 
was  little  that  primitive  man  would  not  do  or  give 
for  this  distinction.  The  Indians'  enjoyment  of 
scalping  was  due  less  to  the  delights  of  torture — for 
they  knew  ways  of  producing  more  exquisite  suf- 
fering— than  to  the  satisfaction  of  securing  tro- 
phies, and  the  modern  souvenir  mania  has  the 
same  psychical  basis. 

Fortunately,  cruelty  is  not  the  aspect  of  the 
racial  mind  which  causes  most  concern  for  children. 
With  them  it  is  oftener  the  careless  unconcern 
about  the  more  serious  matters  of  life,  and  the  in- 
satiable longing  of  the  primitive  soul  for  something 
new  and  exciting.  Like  savages,  children  are  both 

1  Saint  Louis  Globe-Democrat,  November  18,  1910. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  31 

readily  entertained  and  easily  bored.  Life  must 
be  spirited  or  they  will  break  its  bounds  and  find 
their  own  adventures.  This  was  the  motive  in 
the  instances  cited  in  the  early  part  of  this  chapter, 
and  it  was  the  cause  of  the  following  interesting 
little  adventure: 

The  "Cave  Club,"  as  it  is  called,  has  been  unearthed  by 
the  truant  officer.  The  cave  was  built  a  month  ago  by  four 
youngsters  ranging  in  age  from  eight  to  twelve,  to  shelter 
them  from  the  cold  during  the  winter  months  so  they  would 
not  have  to  stay  indoors.  When  built  it  was  about  eight 
feet  square.  Yesterday  morning  the  boys  enlarged  it  on 
account  of  the  increasing  membership,  which  now  totals 
eleven. 

The  cave  is  provided  with  chairs,  benches,  stove,  and  lamps, 
while  the  dirt  walls  are  covered  with  pictures.  It  looks  very 
comfortable,  and  will  provide  a  warm  place  during  the  cold 
afternoons.  If  one  did  not  know  of  the  cave  it  would  be  hard 
to  find.  It  was  dug  in  the  yellow  clay,  and  after  the  top  was 
laid  with  heavy  boards  it  was  covered  with  dirt.  The  stove- 
pipe just  reaches  the  level  of  the  roof  and  can  be  seen  only 
from  a  short  distance. 

The  three  boys  who  were  in  the  cave  yesterday  afternoon 
said  they  played  hookey  sometimes  and  had  used  the  cave  as 
a  hiding  place  while  they  were  working  on  it,  but  now  that  they 
have  it  completed  they  are  not  going  to  play  hookey  any  more, 
as  they  are  afraid  they  will  be  found  out  and  the  cave  de- 
stroyed.1 

The  problem,  then,  seems  to  be  to  give  boys  the 
adventures  which  they  crave  without  encouraging 
reversion  to  the  primitive,  ancestral  type.  There 
is  abundant  evidence  that  this  can  be  done,  but 

1  Saint  Louis  Globe-Democrat,  November  22,  1910. 


32  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

the  most  striking  instance,  perhaps,  is  that  of  the 
Boy  Scouts.  The  success  of  this  movement  has 
been  so  remarkable  that  the  enthusiasm  which  it 
creates  must  spring  from  deeper  sources  than  those 
that  supply  the  transitory  interest  in  many  ac- 
tivities. What  has  worked  the  miracle  of  making 
boys  willing  to  give  up  their  old  life  of  lying,  and 
stealing,  and  running  away  from  school?  Some 
have  thought  it  the  uniform.  "Stick  a  boy  into 
a  uniform,"  they  say,  "and  you  can  do  anything 
with  him."  Can  you?  Try  a  prison  garb  and  see 
what  happens.  It  is  what  the  uniform  stands  for 
that  determines  its  effect.  Plan  a  piece  of  work  so 
that  it  will  involve  some  physical  activity  and 
authority.  It  does  not  much  matter  what  the 
work  is.  Then  gather  together  a  few  boys,  tell 
them  that  you  need  their  help,  put  responsibility 
on  them,  and  they  are  ready  for  business. 

Not  long  ago,  about  half  a  dozen  urchins  were 
making  life  miserable  for  the  fruit  venders  and 
street-car  conductors  in  a  crowded  district  of  one 
of  our  cities.  Car  windows  were  broken,  conductors 
stoned,  and  fruit  was  stolen.  The  policemen  were 
powerless,  because  the  boys  vanished  immediately 
after  committing  the  offence.  A  young  man  in  the 
neighborhood  said  that  he  would  stop  the  disturb- 
ances if  the  police  department  would  agree  not  to 
prosecute  the  offenders  when  they  were  caught. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  33 

The  chief  smiled  compassionately  at  his  innocence, 
but,  being  helpless,  he  let  him  have  his  way.  A 
club,  called  "The  Boys'  Protective  Society,"  was 
organized  from  the  lads  of  the  neighborhood.  The 
members  met  once  a  week  in  a  rented  hall,  played 
games,  and  organized  for  their  work.  One  night 
the  leader  of  the  gang  of  toughs  was  caught  in 
the  act  of  overturning  a  fruit  stand.  As  it  was  a 
choice  between  arrest  and  accompanying  his  cap- 
tors he  yielded.  Indeed,  the  whole  affair  struck 
him  as  rather  entertaining.  It  certainly  was  an 
easy  way  to  escape  a  night  in  jail.  He  was  taken 
to  the  hall  and  messengers  were  at  once  despatched 
to  summon  the  members  of  the  club.  A  court  was 
organized  and  the  prisoner  found  guilty.  The 
question  of  punishment  was  a  serious  problem, 
and  the  captive,  understanding  their  perplexity, 
smjled  in  derision.  But  the  boys  were  equal  to 
the  situation  and  sentenced  him  to  be  an  "outcast." 
They  told  him  that  they  would  not  play  with  him, 
that  they  would  not  even  speak  to  him  on  the 
street.  He  said  he  didn't  care,  and  went  out  with 
a  very  haughty  air.  The  next  day,  Saturday,  the 
boys  of  the  neighborhood  gathered  for  their  usual 
base-ball  game  on  a  vacant  lot.  While  they  were 
organizing  for  the  game  the  prisoner  of  the  night 
before  arrived  and  was  at  once  chosen  by  the  leader 
of  one  of  the  sides,  who  was  not  a  club  member. 


34  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

The  boys  belonging  to  the  club  then  left  the  field. 
Only  two  remained  to  keep  the  "outcast"  com- 
pany, and  they  were  not  members  of  the  club. 
At  the  next  meeting  of  the  society  the  following 
note  from  the  former  prisoner  was  presented: 
"If  yez  will  let  me  jin  yer  club  I  won't  do  nothing 
any  more  and  will  play  yer  way."  He  was  elected 
to  membership  and  at  the  next  meeting  he  brought 
three  of  his  old  associates  and  begged  that  they  be 
admitted.  From  that  time  fruit  dealers  and  car 
conductors  had  peace. 

There  is  no  inconsistency  in  boys  trading  mis- 
demeanors for  social  service,  provided  the  latter 
is  equally  virile.  The  destructive,  anti-social  im- 
pulses express  the  racial  need  for  self-assertion, 
for  aggressive  action.  Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem, 
with  boys  destruction  is  construction.  They  are 
trying  out  a  plan  of  campaign  against  their  ene- 
mies. It  is  not  always  necessary  that  the  rt  enemy  " 
shall  have  committed  unfriendly  acts,  since  boys 
look  upon  adults  as  a  peculiar  people  who  are  try- 
ing to  coerce  them  into  actions  against  which  their 
racial  instincts  rebel.  They  want  to  do  things 
which  show  their  power,  and  the  most  natural  ob- 
ject against  which  they  can  pit  their  resources  is 
that  strangely  unnatural  creature,  civilized  man, 
whose  occupations  are  so  tame  and  uneventful, 
and  who  always  cries,  "Peace!  Peace!"  They  are 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  35 

living  through  the  period  of  the  race  when  survival 
depends  upon  eternal  vigilance  and  ceaseless  ac- 
tivity. But  action  is  the  one  thing  which  is  left 
out  of  account  in  the  home  and  school.  Naturally, 
then,  children  find  their  own  field  of  operations, 
and  since  primitive  instincts,  when  undirected, 
tend  to  reinstate  the  life  of  our  savage  ancestors, 
conflict  with  modern  civilization  ensues. 

We  have  said  that  the  fundamental  problem  in 
training  boys  consists  in  furnishing  adventures 
without  encouraging  reversion.  The  club  of  Boy 
Scouts  does  this,  both  by  the  suggestion  given  in 
the  name  and  by  the  demand  for  readiness  to  act 
in  emergencies.  Adventures  need  not  be  spectac- 
ular to  meet  the  requirements.  Boys  will  tramp 
through  the  woods  with  guns,  without  firing  a  shot, 
until  ready  to  drop  from  exhaustion,  and  enjoy 
every  minute.  The  imagination  helps  amazingly, 
provided  it  has  something  to  work  upon.  Scout- 
ing is  the  cue  for  countless  racial  reminiscences. 
Though  the  uniform  is  not  necessary,  it  furthers  the 
play  of  the  imagination.  The  "adventures"  that 
come  with  emergency  calls,  as  well  as  those  which 
the  adolescent  mind  easily  thinks  into  drill  exer- 
cises of  a  military  sort,  give  the  boys  opportunity 
to  show  off.  All  of  this  appeals  to  the  racial  in- 
stincts, and  whatever  has  their  support  draws  its 
power  from  an  exhaustless  reservoir  of  energy. 


36  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

Social  virtues,  which  boys  honestly  intend  to  prac- 
tise some  day,  when  they  reach  the  dry,  spiritless 
age  of  their  teachers  and  parents,  now  acquire  the 
irresistible  force  of  race  enthusiasm.  They  are 
thrifty,  and  truthful,  and  studious,  because  these 
virtues  are  a  part  of  the  Scout's  honor. 

Organization  into  scouts  is  not  the  only  means 
of  transforming  racial  tendencies  into  educative 
forces.  Responsibility,  freedom  to  manage  things, 
is  what  boys  want.  All  sorts  of  racial  emotions 
cluster  around  the  idea  of  authority.  The  teacher 
may  suggest,  but  the  suggestion  must  be  so  subtle 
that  the  children  think  the  plan  their  own.  Then 
it  takes  possession  of  them  and  they  carry  it  out 
with  the  same  vigor  that  animates  their  play. 

The  nervous  system  is  much  like  other  complex 
machinery.  Sometimes  it  gives  results  and  again 
it  does  not  work.  With  children  the  chief  disturb- 
ances in  the  running  of  the  nervous  machinery  are 
inhibitions  and  vagrant  nervous  currents.  Inhibi- 
tions are  the  child's  protest  against  the  neglect  of 
his  deepest  instincts.  Boys  require  action,  with 
freedom  to  initiate  and  discover;  yet  they  are  com- 
pelled to  learn  dreary  facts  which  have  no  meaning 
for  them.  Often  the  work  is  wholly  fruitless  in 
the  opinion  of  the  teacher  as  well.  One  school 
with  which  the  writer  is  familiar  has  given  up 
formal  grammar  because  it  was  found  profitless, 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  37 

and  another,  for  the  same  reason,  has  abandoned 
geography.  But  it  is  a  commentary  on  educational 
intelligence  that  a  third  class,  turned  loose  in  these 
subjects,  asked  so  many  questions  and  became  so 
excited  over  their  discoveries  that  the  teacher  had 
difficulty  in  keeping  their  pace.  If  there  were  no 
adventures  here,  the  children,  at  all  events,  were 
not  suppressed,  and  their  instinct  to  investigate 
and  display  their  knowledge  was  not  curbed  by  the 
limitations  of  the  course  of  study.  Perhaps  they 
were  interested  in  verbs  before  mastering  nouns, 
but  in  learning  that  something  was  done  they  soon 
discovered  that  some  one  had  to  do  it.  Geography 
literally  drove  the  teacher  to  the  swamps.  And 
here  the  boys  found  real  adventures.  Hardly  had 
school  closed  before  they  were  off  to  the  woods  and 
streams.  When  they  came  back  they  were  loaded 
with  mud  and  information.  Boys  who  had  played 
truant  could  not  be  driven  away  from  school.  One 
who  had  been  suspended  for  a  serious  offence 
begged,  instead,  for  a  whipping,  so  that  he  might 
not  fall  behind  the  other  boys.  The  class  session 
was  the  clearing-house  for  the  information.  Here, 
under  the  guidance  of  their  teacher,  they  compared 
notes  and  learned  the  meaning  of  what  they  had 
discovered. 

Evidently  inhibitions  and  vagrant  nervous  im- 
pulses are  not  a  necessary  part  of  even  the  school- 


38  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

boy.  He  will  be  active,  he  insists  upon  adventures, 
and  he  is  bound  to  show  off.  Yet  these  are  the 
very  qualities  which  the  school  suppresses.  The 
objection  may  be  raised  that  the  school  was  not 
organized  to  provide  adventures.  The  reply  to 
this  is,  first,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  schools  to 
educate,  and  second,  that  teachers  should  make 
use  of  every  means  to  improve  their  own  energy- 
efficiency.  Both  of  these  statements  are  sufficiently 
commonplace  to  be  acceptable.  Our  forefathers 
acted  upon  them  when  the  teachers  and  pupils 
went  into  the  woods  for  their  occasional  outing, 
to  gather  a  fresh  supply  of  birch  switches.  The 
schools  have  abandoned  the  rod  as  a  promoter  of 
educational  efficiency,  but  they  have  put  nothing, 
except  sentimentality,  in  its  place.  Now,  we  have 
found  racial  instincts  to  be  a  tremendous  force  in 
the  life  of  boys,  driving  them  on  in  search  of  situa- 
tions which  shall  satisfy  the  functional  nervous 
craving  for  adventure.  It  is  the  law  of  the  race, 
written  in  the  blood  and  fibre  of  the  youth. 

I  am  not  advocating  turning  study  into  play,  nor 
roaming  woods  and  fields  in  search  of  mere  excite- 
ment. I  do  insist,  however,  that  we  have  here  a 
group  of  racial  instincts  available  for  the  teacher 
who  cares  to  increase  his  efficiency.  If  this  view 
is  correct,  it  is  quite  as  unintelligent  to  ignore  these 
instincts  as  for  an  efficiency  engineer  to  overlook 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  ADVENTURE  39 

losses  that  might  be  converted  into  useful  energy. 
For  these  impulses  are  either  with  the  educative 
process  or  against  it.  The  problem  is  to  direct 
them  into  new  channels  which  make  for  mental 
and  moral  development,  instead  of  allowing  them 
to  run  the  more  natural,  easier  course  of  truancy, 
cheap  shows,  and  dance-halls.  The  practical  ques- 
tion in  the  problem  is:  Can  these  racial  instincts 
be  utilized  in  the  educative  process  ?  Will  the  plan 
work?  In  answering  these  questions  it  is  only 
necessary  to  show  that  it  has  worked  with  a  suffi- 
ciently large  number  of  pupils  gathered  from  the 
usual  varied  surroundings  of  public-school  children. 
If,  in  addition,  we  can  show  that  the  plan  works 
under  less  favorable  conditions  than  those  which 
commonly  characterize  public  schools,  the  argu- 
ment is  so  much  the  stronger.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  prove  that  every  teacher  can  win  to  his  support 
the  native  instincts  of  boys,  any  more  than  in 
demonstrating  the  efficiency  of  steam  one  must 
show  that  every  man  can  manage  an  engine.  In 
both  cases  the  thing  to  do  is  to  find  some  one  who 
understands  his  job. 

We  have  already  noted  several  instances  in 
which  racial  instincts  were  advantageously  used 
for  development.  These  cases  were  introduced  to 
illustrate  the  amazing  possibilities  of  primitive 
impulses  as  educative  forces.  The  scout  idea,  it 


40  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

may  be  objected,  does  not  fit  school  conditions. 
For  this  reason,  if  the  school  is  to  avail  itself  of 
these  instincts  it  remains  to  be  shown  that  they 
may  be  used  to  promote  self-control  among  pupils 
and  improve  the  quality  of  work  in  the  class.  To 
this,  then,  we  now  turn. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH 

IT  happened  about  two  years  ago  in  a  country 
school.  The  building  was  perched  on  the  top  of 
a  desolate  hill,  midway  between  two  groups  of 
farms  which  extended  long  distances  in  every 
direction  except  in  that  which  led  to  the  school. 
The  little  red  house  looked  as  though  it  had  been 
dropped  by  a  cyclone,  so  incongruous  were  the  sur- 
roundings. Yet  the  patrons  would  have  placed 
the  building  on  another  planet,  to  give  each  equal 
distances,  could  they  but  have  bridged  the  chasm. 
Then  they  would  never  have  visited  it  except  to 
dismiss  the  teacher.  But  their  jealousy  was  only 
human.  It  is  self-satisfying  to  possess  privileges 
even  if  we  never  derive  advantage  from  them. 

One  teacher  had  been  dismissed  because  she 
asked  for  an  assistant  that  she  might  have  more 
time  to  study  in  preparation  for  her  classes.  Being 
very  practical  people,  these  farmers  wanted  the 
best.  They  knew  just  what  a  good  teacher  should 
be,  and,  as  usual,  the  desirable  qualities  included 
everything  which  the  former  teachers  lacked.  It 
is  strange  how  all  the  bad  qualities  are  combined 

41 


42  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

in  those  whom  we  know,  and  all  the  virtues  united 
in  one  for  whom  we  are  always  vainly  searching. 
At  all  events,  one  who  had  not  yet  learned  her 
lessons  was  not  up  to  the  standard  of  these  prac- 
tical people.  It  set  a  bad  example  to  the  chil- 
dren, they  said.  What  is  the  use  of  going  to  school 
if  one  must  be  forever  studying? 

One  teacher  after  another  came — and  suddenly 
left.  The  big  boys  managed  that.  Like  their  par- 
ents, they  had  their  ideals  and  they  had  not  yet 
found  the  one  they  wanted.  Boys  are  rather  par- 
ticular in  their  preferences.  The  plan  of  dis- 
missal was  usually  left  to  the  biggest  boy  in  the 
school.  Joe  was  something  of  an  artist  in  his 
way,  and  he  prided  himself  upon  his  delicate  touch. 
He  always  managed  to  be  hard  at  work  when  the 
disturbance  which  he  had  arranged  occurred. 
Then  he  appeared  as  the  champion  of  the  small 
boy  whom  he  was  using  as  a  decoy.  It  was 
pleasant  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  defender  of  the 
oppressed.  The  child  was  not  to  blame  and  the 
teacher  punished  him  because  he  was  little.  That 
was  the  way  in  which  Joe  put  it  to  his  associates 
and  parents. 

A  new  teacher  was  to  take  charge  in  the  morning 
and  the  boys  were  looking  forward  to  the  event. 
The  change  always  relieved  the  monotony.  Joe 
went  early,  because,  like  a  good  general,  he  wanted 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  43 

to  look  the  ground  over.  He  entered  the  building 
with  his  hat  on,  by  way  of  showing  his  familiarity 
with  the  place,  and  found  himself  face  to  face  with 
a  pleasant-looking  girl  who  was  putting  the  room 
in  order. 

"Good-morning,"  she  said,  smiling  as  she  went 
on  with  her  work. 

Joe  squirmed,  standing  first  on  one  leg  and  then 
on  the  other,  and  finally  took  off  his  hat.  The 
teacher  looked  hardly  older  than  himself,  and  it 
was  more  than  the  defender  of  the  oppressed  could 
stand  to  see  her  working  without  offering  assist- 
ance. 

"Shan't  I  help  you?"  he  asked. 

"Yes,  if  you  will,  please.  Then  we  can  finish 
before  the  children  come." 

It  was  a  great  relief  to  have  something  to  do 
with  his  hands.  Curiosity  also  brought  others 
early,  and  great  was  their  amazement  to  meet 
Joe  at  the  door  putting  the  finishing  touches  to 
cleaning  the  black-board  erasers. 

"She's  such  a  little  thing,"  he  said  apologet- 
ically, "and  besides,  she's  a  girl." 

Of  course,  every  one  wanted  to  help.  What- 
ever Joe  did  was  all  right.  So,  in  a  moment  they 
were  all  at  work  filling  ink-wells  and  clearing  out 
the  papers  which  were  wadded  into  the  desks. 

"There,  I  guess  that  will  do  for  this  morning," 


44  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

said  the  teacher.  "Now,  let's  take  our  seats  and 
get  ready  for  work." 

Joe  sat  down  and  took  out  his  book.  He  was 
too  much  flustered  to  do  anything  else. 

There  was  a  mysterious  silence  during  the  day, 
broken  only  by  the  work  of  the  recitations.  Joe 
studied,  or  pretended  to,  because  he  was  trying  to 
recover  himself.  It  contradicted  his  notion  of  fair 
play  to  annoy  one  with  whom  he  had  just  been 
working  on  terms  of  equality.  Besides,  she  had 
set  him  apart  from  the  others  when  she  said,  "We 
can  finish  before  the  children  come."  At  any  rate, 
he  would  wait  until  to-morrow,  he  thought  to  him- 
self, before  starting  the  fun. 

At  the  close  of  school  the  teacher  asked  Joe  to 
stop  a  minute.  As  the  others  left,  the  lad  ap- 
proached the  desk  and  stood  with  his  hands  dan- 
gling helplessly,  wondering  why  he  had  consented 
to  wait,  and  with  half  a  mind  to  run  out  the  door. 

"Day  after  to-morrow  is  Saturday,  Joe,  and  I 
want  to  take  you  all  down  to  the  creek  to  show  you 
how  geography  is  made." 

"I  didn't  know  it  was  made.  I  thought  it  was 
just  writ,"  replied  Joe. 

"We  will  see  when  we  get  to  the  creek.  But  I 
must  have  some  help.  There  are  more  children 
than  I  can  take  care  of  alone,  and  then,  too,  I  shall 
need  some  one  to  help  show  the  others  all  the 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  45 

things  that  are  to  be  seen,  so  I  want  you  to  help 
me." 

This  was  a  new  situation  for  Joe,  but  he  had 
never  yet  refused  an  appeal  for  aid.  He  had  posed 
so  long  as  the  champion  of  those  who  needed  as- 
sistance that  he  had  come  to  think  himself  quite 
virtuous.  Besides,  it  fitted  into  his  feelings  of 
superiority  that  he  should  be  selected  to  assist  in 
instructing  the  others.  Of  course,  he  consented. 
Any  big  boy  would. 

The  anticipated  events  of  the  following  day  did 
not  occur.  Joe  was  trying  to  think  the  thing  out. 
He  knew  the  boys  expected  something  to  happen, 
but  again  his  idea  of  a  square  deal  interfered. 
He  had  been  chosen  to  help  teach  the  others  on 
the  excursion.  He  could  not  begin  by  making 
trouble. 

"She  don't  just  boss  you  around  and  tell  you 
to  get  to  work,"  he  said  apologetically  at  recess. 
"She  treats  a  feller  as  though  he  had  some  sense." 

Saturday  afternoon  the  children  returned  from 
their  tramp  loaded  with  specimens  for  the  next 
week's  study.  That  evening  when  Joe  sat  down 
with  a  book  which  his  teacher  had  lent  him,  he 
remarked  to  his  wondering  parents: 

"Those  boys  don't  know  nothing.  It's  a  big 
job  to  help  teach  'em,  and  a  feller's  got  to  work." 

This  is  putting  the  responsibility  for  discipline 


46  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

and  work  upon  the  children,  where  it  belongs.  The 
teacher  is  left  free  to  help  and  direct  and  inspire. 
And  these  are  the  duties  for  which  disposition  and 
training  alike  should  equip,  else  one  is  unfitted  to 
teach. 

Under  the  ordinary  method  of  teacher-control, 
a  large  part  of  the  attention  is  divided.  If  nothing 
is  happening,  there  is,  at  least,  expectation  that 
something  interesting  may  occur,  and  so  the  atten- 
tion wanders  from  one  possibility  of  entertainment 
to  another,  returning  frequently  to  the  teacher  to 
read  the  danger-signals  in  his  look  and  attitude. 
It  will  not  be  gratifying  to  the  strenuous  peda- 
gogues who  pride  themselves  on  their  discipline 
to  learn  that  in  their  school  this  divided  attention 
is  always  in  evidence.  Martinets  are  good  game 
for  mischievous  boys,  and  there  is  no  closed  sea- 
son. The  more  watchful  the  teacher,  the  more  ex- 
citing the  sport. 

A  few  days  ago  a  young  man,  speaking  of  his 
employer,  said:  "He  makes  you  feel  that  you  are 
working  with  him  instead  of  for  him.  You  think 
that  the  business  is  yours  as  much  as  his."  Some 
teachers  possess  this  personality,  and  they  create 
a  feeling  of  self-government  without  machinery  to 
help  the  illusion.  Unfortunately,  such  teachers  are 
rare  because  this  quality  of  mind  fits  men  for  posi- 
tions in  which  their  talent  has  a  wider  scope.  The 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  47 

manner  of  producing  the  spirit  of  self-government 
is  unimportant,  however,  provided  only  it  is  cre- 
ated in  some  way. 

The  complete  reversal  of  the  children's  views 
about  behavior  is,  perhaps,  the  most  striking 
change  observed  in  a  school  after  the  introduction 
of  pupil-government.  This  change  is  especially 
noticeable  in  the  case  of  boys  who  have  been  in- 
corrigible in  other  schools. 

"This  boy  is  a  menace  to  the  school  and  com- 
munity because  of  his  total  lack  of  moral  sense," 
was  the  recommendation  written  by  a  New  York 
principal  for  a  boy  who  was  being  transferred  to 
School  no,  Manhattan.  This  school  has  pupil- 
government,  and  the  new  boy  found  to  his  amaze- 
ment that  he  was  no  longer  a  hero  when  he  be- 
haved like  a  ruffian.  Instead  of  having  the  other 
boys  on  his  side  against  the  teachers,  he  discovered 
that  he  had  to  answer  for  his  offences  to  his  own 
playmates.  The  situation  was  so  odd  that  at  first 
he  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  it.  So  he  waited. 
He  wanted  to  see  how  the  land  lay.  And  he  found 
out.  For,  like  most  bad  boys,  he  was  bright,  and 
one  trial  before  his  schoolmates  was  enough  to 
convince  him  that  his  way  of  doing  business  was 
antiquated.  As  he  was  only  twelve,  he  was  not  too 
old  to  get  a  few  ideas  and  adapt  himself  to  new 
conditions.  One  day  the  principal  sent  him  out  to 


48  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

buy  postage-stamps.  When  returning  he  saw  three 
boys  so  far  away  from  the  building  that  he  knew 
they  were  truants.  He  took  them  back  to  the 
school  and  delivered  them  to  the  principal.  Later, 
in  recognition  of  his  observation  and  skill,  his 
schoolmates  elected  him  chief  of  police.  His  work 
with  truants,  in  his  new  office,  has  made  a  record 
for  his  school. 

At  another  time  a  boy  was  dragged  into  the  same 
school  by  two  policemen.  He  had  been  sent  by 
the  court  and,  as  he  did  not  enjoy  the  prospect,  he 
had  tired  out  the  two  big  men  with  his  struggles. 
So  they  dropped  him  on  the  floor  at  the  feet  of 
the  principal.  After  listening  to  the  story,  the 
principal  gave  the  boy  a  card  of  permission  to  go 
where  he  wished,  adding  that  if  he  preferred  not  to 
stay  in  the  building  he  might  leave.  This  struck 
the  boy  as  a  strange  way  of  handling  him.  But 
since  he  was  free  to  go,  he  thought  he  would  like 
to  stay  a  while.  So,  he  wandered  from  one  room 
to  another  and  finally  found  a  boy  acquaintance 
making  a  desk.  There  was  no  teacher  in  the  room 
and  the  visitor  amused  himself  by  picking  up  some 
of  the  tools  and  trying  them  on  whatever  hap- 
pened to  be  convenient.  One  of  the  boys  stepped 
up  to  him  and  said: 

"You  are  injuring  our  property.  You  must 
leave  those  tools  alone." 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  49 

"Who  are  you?"  asked  the  intruder. 

"I  am  one  of  the  aldermen  of  the  School  City." 

The  new-comer  looked  with  astonishment  at  the 
diminutive  representative  of  the  authority  of  the 
school.  He  was  not  accustomed  to  this  treatment 
by  a  boy  smaller  than  himself.  The  novelty  of 
the  situation  puzzled  him.  But  he  laid  aside  the 
tools  and  sat  down.  At  the  close  of  school,  he 
told  the  principal  that  things  looked  pretty  good 
to  him  and  he  guessed  he  would  come  the  next 
day.  He  soon  became  an  active  citizen  of  the 
School  City. 

The  instances  of  which  we  have  been  speaking 
are  typical  of  the  behavior  of  boys  when  in  con- 
trol of  their  work.  Their  laws  may  be  unwritten, 
but  woe  to  him  who  transgresses  them!  A  young- 
ster in  School  23  of  the  Bronx  was  reported  to  the 
governor  of  his  class  for  disorder.  The  governor 
convened  the  council  and,  after  the  evidence  had 
been  heard,  the  defendant  was  pronounced  guilty. 
As  the  boy  refused  to  acquiesce  in  the  verdict, 
the  governor  laid  the  matter  before  the  principal. 
The  culprit  was  summoned  to  the  office -and  told 
that  he  must  make  his  peace  with  the  governor 
and  council  before  he  could  return  to  the  class. 
It  was  not  pleasant,  but  he  did  it.  A  short  time 
after,  he  applied  for  admission  to  the  "  Boy  Scouts" 
of  his  class.  The  application  was  laid  on  the 


50  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

table  by  his  classmates  until  sufficient  time  should 
have  passed  to  enable  them  to  determine  whether 
he  was  worthy  of  the  honor. 

A  boy  of  twelve  in  School  109,  Brooklyn,  dis- 
obeyed his  teacher.  He  was  tried  in  the  court 
of  the  School  City  and  found  guilty.  In  this  case 
the  youthful  judge,  for  reasons  which  he  thought 
adequate,  after  a  severe  reprimand,  released  the 
boy  on  parole.  This  was  the  last  occasion  for 
summoning  him  before  the  court. 

It  is  such  situations  as  these  that  count  for 
moral  growth.  These  children  are  not  taught 
morality.  They  grow  into  it.  The  lessons  are 
more  effective  than  if  they  came  from  the  teacher 
because  they  represent  the  sentiment  of  the  class. 
As  an  eighth-grade  boy  in  School  23,  of  the  Bronx, 
put  it,  "No  boy  likes  to  be  thought  different  from 
other  boys.  No  boy  wants  a  whole  class  down 
on  him."  l 

The  behavior  of  the  pupils  in  these  schools 
springs  from  the  impulse  of  children  to  want  the 
things  that  they  control  done  well.  They  act 
rightly  because  under  these  conditions  right  ac- 
tion is  identical  with  accomplishing  what  they 
have  set  themselves  to  do.  The  difference  be- 
tween such  behavior  and  that  of  pupils  managed 
according  to  orthodox  pedagogy  is  illustrated  by 

1  The  Spirit  of  the  School,  January,  1911,  p.  8. 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  51 

a  school  which  was  recently  brought  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  writer.  The  teachers,  five  janitors, 
and  fifty-four  monitors  were  required  to  keep 
hardly  more  than  twenty-two  hundred  children 
in  order  when  they  assembled  for  the  afternoon 
session.  If  this  is  thought  to  be  an  extreme  in- 
stance, the  writer  may  mention  that  he  has  seen 
many  schools  dismissed,  with  teachers  located  at 
every  turn  on  each  floor.  With  such  evident  fear 
of  their  prowess,  it  is  little  wonder  that  children 
take  delight  in  outwitting  their  guards. 

The  needlessness  of  this  pedagogical  bluster  is 
seen  in  the  Thirteenth  Avenue  School,  at  Newark, 
New  Jersey.  Here  twelve  pupil  monitors  elected 
by  the  children  have  entire  charge  of  the  entrance 
and  dismissal  of  nineteen  hundred  pupils.  At  the 
close  of  recess  the  writer  stepped  down  to  the 
playground  and  found  monitors  putting  the  chil- 
dren into  line  and  marching  them  upstairs.  Every- 
thing was  done  quietly  and  rapidly.  There  was 
no  nonsense.  Just  before  the  hour  of  dismissal 
the  monitors  left  their  classes  and  took  their  re- 
spective places  in  the  halls  and  on  the  stairs. 
The  teachers  remained  in  their  rooms  until  the 
children  passed  out. 

The  ability  of  pupils  to  control  themselves  when 
they  know  that  they  are  not  watched  from  se- 
cluded corners  and  through  glass  doors  is  also  seen 


52  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

in  School  114,  Manhattan.  Here  the  order  of  the 
boys  as  they  march  through  the  halls  from  room 
to  room,  which  they  do  every  forty  minutes,  needs 
no  supervision  except  that  of  the  officials  of  the 
School  City.  Here,  also,  the  same  young  admin- 
istrative officers  direct  the  dismissal  of  the  chil- 
dren. After  school  they  take  charge  of  those  who 
remain  in  the  building  to  play,  a  privilege  which 
is  granted  because  of  the  congested  condition  of 
the  streets.  Even  in  the  street,  on  the  way  to 
school,  the  School  City  uses  its  authority  to  pre- 
vent disorder  among  its  citizens. 

At  School  52,  Manhattan,  the  writer  had  an 
opportunity  to  see  how  well  the  pupil  officers  could 
handle  the  children  in  case  of  fire.  The  principal 
signalled  all  the  teachers  to  his  office  and  then 
rang  the  fire-alarm.  Instantly  the  class  officer  in 
each  room  took  charge  and  in  a  moment  the  chil- 
dren were  pouring  down  the  stairs  in  orderly  pro- 
cession. There  was  no  delay  and  no  confusion. 
Yet,  so  far  as  the  children  knew,  there  was  a  real 
fire  and  imminent  danger. 

An  illustration  of  the  efficiency  of  children  in 
the  presence  of  actual  danger  has  just  come  to 
the  writer's  attention.  A  fire  occurred  in  one  of 
the  buildings  of  the  Hebrew  Sheltering  Guardian 
Society,  of  New  York  City.  When  first  discov- 
ered, smoke  was  already  widely  spread  through 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  53 

the  part  of  the  building  in  which  the  fire  started. 
At  the  sound  of  the  fire-gong,  the  officers  of  the 
two  republics — one  of  the  boys  and  the  other  of 
the  girls — immediately  took  command  of  the  chil- 
dren and  marched  them  to  the  playrooms  in  an- 
other wing  of  the  large  building,  where  they  re- 
mained in  charge  until  the  firemen  extinguished 
the  flames. 

Truancy  and  tardiness  have  also  been  greatly 
reduced  through  the  activity  of  the  young  admin- 
istrative officers.  In  the  grammar  department  of 
the  Thirteenth  Avenue  School  of  Newark,  New 
Jersey,  which  contains  over  seven  hundred  chil- 
dren, there  have  been  only  twenty  cases  of  tardi- 
ness and  no  truancy  during  the  past  year.  The 
principal  of  a  New  York  school  puts  truants  in 
charge  of  active  citizens  of  the  school  republic  who 
formerly  were  themselves  truants.  The  boys  know 
how  to  find  runaways,  and  when  once  truants 
have  been  discovered,  former  delinquents  are  skil- 
ful in  handling  them.  Besides,  there  is  a  sym- 
pathetic bond  between  the  two  that  appeals  to  the 
truant.  The  feeling  that  authority  and  force  are 
unfairly  used,  which  arises  so  easily  in  police  con- 
trol of  truancy,  is  absent. 

Fair  play  is  the  pride  of  boys.  They  may  boast 
of  their  thefts.  Their  playmates  may  call  them 
liars  without  producing  so  much  as  a  ripple  of 


54  YOUTH  AND  THE  .RACE 

anger.  But  accuse  them  of  playing  unfairly  and 
there  is  trouble  at  once.  Now,  one  of  the  advan- 
tages of  pupil-government  is  that  it  furnishes  a 
body  of  administrative  officers  to  act  in  an  emer- 
gency, and  a  court  to  permanently  settle  the  diffi- 
culty. When  no  such  organization  exists,  wran- 
gling is  interminable.  No  one  has  more  authority 
than  the  others.  Consequently,  if  the  accused 
be  one  of  the  larger  boys,  he  holds  his  own  by 
his  superior  personality.  Under  pupil  self-govern- 
ment, the  boy  charged  with  unfairness  is  at  once 
sent  from  the  game.  That  is  the  duty  of  the 
police  commissioner  of  the  city  republic  if  he  is 
present.  If  not,  any  officer  of  the  government 
may  act.  Comparative  size  and  strength  do  not 
matter.  In  only  a  few  instances  has  a  boy  resisted 
the  authority  of  the  City.  And  he  has  never  re- 
peated the  offence.  Resistance  does  not  pay, 
because  the  sentiment  of  the  entire  body  of  citi- 
zens supports  the  administration.  A  new-comer 
who  has  always  ruled  his  playmates  may  test  the 
sentiment,  but  he  finds  himself  unsupported,  and  a 
boy  will  not  long  hold  out  alone.  The  refusal  of 
his  schoolmates  to  play  with  him  is  a  convincing 
argument.  When  the  case  comes  up  for  trial,  the 
children  may  be  equally  divided  on  the  question  of 
guilt.  But,  again,  once  the  case  is  settled  by  the 
court,  there  is  unanimous  support  of  the  verdict. 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  55 

We  have  seen  that  children  are  zealous  in  the 
enforcement  of  laws  which  they  themselves  have 
made.  Boys  will  report  their  best  friend  for  vio- 
lation of  their  rules.  In  doing  this  they  do  not 
feel  that  they  are  tale-bearers.  They  have  a  com- 
mon purpose  which  is  vital  to  all.  This  is  a  seri- 
ous matter  with  them,  as  any  one  may  observe 
who  has  watched  them  at  their  own  occupa- 
tions. Opposition  is  treachery  to  the  pupil-body. 
Therefore,  it  should  be  severely  handled.  So 
they  are  remorseless  in  reporting  misdemeanors. 

The  punishments  inflicted  by  the  court  vary  in 
different  schools.  In  some  instances  the  con- 
victed boy  is  sentenced  to  the  service  squad,  or  to 
extra  sessions  in  the  school-room,  with  additional 
work.  In  extreme  cases  he  may  be  placed  on 
probation  or  deprived  of  citizenship.  If  the  chil- 
dren think  the  case  too  serious  for  the  punish- 
ments within  their  jurisdiction,  the  culprit  may 
be  reported  to  the  principal  with  or  without  rec- 
ommendation regarding  the  penalty.  In  one  such 
case  the  court  requested  a  public  reprimand,  and 
the  principal  said  that  never  in  his  experience 
was  a  reprimand  so  solemn  or  effective.  The 
censure  was  not  the  principal's.  It  came  from 
the  fellow  pupils  of  the  boy.  That  was  why  it 
hurt. 

The  enthusiasm  of  the  children  in  support  of 


56  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

their  laws  is  seen  also  in  their  readiness  to  join 
in  the  enforcement  even  at  the  expense  of  the 
pleasures  which  are  sometimes  thought  to  be  in- 
stinctive. The  police  commissioner  for  the  past 
year  in  the  Washington  School  at  Allston,  Massa- 
chusetts, was  small  for  his  age.  A  fight  occurred 
on  the  playground  between  two  of  the  larger  boys 
with  whom  the  commissioner  was  unable  to  cope 
physically.  He  at  once  called  upon  one  of  the 
larger  boys  for  assistance.  The  fighters  were  sep- 
arated and  sent  to  the  side  lines.  There  was  no 
evidence  of  the  pleasure  that  boys  usually  find  in 
watching  a  fight.  They  themselves  had  passed 
the  law  against  fighting,  and  here  was  a  clear 
violation  which  they  would  not  permit.  Later 
the  offenders  were  brought  before  the  court,  found 
guilty,  and  punished. 

There  is  little  doubt  of  punishment  meeting 
with  approval,  for  children  almost  invariably  sup- 
port their  officers.  Those  who  resent  having  moni- 
tors appointed  over  them  by  their  teachers,  ac- 
cept, without  a  murmur,  monitors  whom  they  elect 
as  president,  police  commissioner,  or,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  School  Country,  army  officers.  A  boy 
in  School  52,  Manhattan,  resisted  the  authority  of 
one  of  the  monitors  and  finally  struck  him.  The 
rest  of  the  children  refused  to  allow  him  to  take 
part  in  their  games  until  he  had  accepted  the 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  57 

punishment  of  the  court  and  promised  not  to 
repeat  the  offence. 

These  same  officers,  though  not  usually  officious, 
are  always  ready  to  assume  responsibility.  A 
teacher  once  reported  to  the  principal  of  the  Thir- 
teenth Avenue  School  in  Newark,  New  Jersey, 
that  two  boys  were  fighting  on  the  playground. 
The  mayor  of  the  School  City  happened  to  be  in 
the  office  and  the  principal  asked  him  to  attend 
to  the  matter.  The  boy  went  at  once,  and  as  soon 
as  the  others  caught  sight  of  him  the  fight  ended 
and  the  participants  vanished.  The  teachers  of 
this  school  are  never  stationed  on  the  playground 
to  preserve  order,  and  the  principal  has  been  called 
down  only  once  or  twice  during  the  year.  This 
school,  it  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection,  is 
the  one  to  which  incorrigible  boys  are  usually  sent. 

Children  cannot  be  described  in  terms  of  single 
acts.  The  same  instincts  may  have  varied  forms 
of  expression.  Fighting,  or  delight  in  seeing  others 
fight,  is  only  one  expression  of  the  underlying  in- 
stinct. Boys  want  to  control,  to  rule,  to  display 
authority,  to  show  off.  Fighting  is  usually  a  means 
to  the  larger  end.  The  skilful  teacher  recognizes 
this  and  turns  the  instinct  into  educative  channels 
by  giving  opportunity  to  display  authority  in  sit- 
uations which  develop  social  responsibility.  And 
pupil-government  offers  just  these  situations. 


58  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

There  is,  however,  an  even  wider  field  in  which 
pupil-government  exerts  an  influence  over  its  citi- 
zens. In  several  schools  the  boy  officials  volun- 
tarily assume  responsibility  for  the  progress  of 
backward  children.  If  they  are  absent,  these  offi- 
cials visit  them  in  their  homes.  They  see  that 
their  work  is  kept  up  and,  when  necessary,  help 
them  in  their  studies. 

The  office  of  commissioner  of  charities  offers  a 
further  opportunity  for  the  development  of  altru- 
istic impulses.  This  office  is  by  no  means  a  sine- 
cure, especially  in  the  larger  cities.  Since  all  of 
the  supplies  are  contributed  by  the  children,  the 
ethical  value  of  the  work  is  not  limited  to  the  com- 
missioner. The  young  commissioner  of  School  147, 
Manhattan,  in  his  June  report  thanks  the  citizens 
of  the  School  City  for  their  contributions.  "They 
were  distributed  to  needy  children.  Last  month 
I  gave  out  nine  ties,  one  pair  of  trousers,  and  one 
pair  of  shoes."  Neckties  are  more  of  a  necessity 
to  school  life  than  might  at  first  be  thought.  The 
School  City  requires  neatness  in  its  citizens.  Boys 
must  have  their  hair  combed,  their  shoes  must  be 
polished,  and  they  must  be  reasonably  neat  in 
other  respects.  If  they  are  careless,  the  proper 
officer  admonishes  them.  Disregard  of  the  friendly 
warning  brings  them  before  the  court.  They  soon 
find  that  it  pays  to  be  clean  and  neat. 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  59 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  court  has  at  times  been 
a  serious  question.  In  several  cases  the  decision 
has  been  handed  down  that  the  authority  of  the 
officials  extends  wherever  citizens  of  the  school 
are  found.  Naturally,  this  radical  extension  of 
authority  of  the  School  City  exerts  a  soothing  in- 
fluence upon  the  work  of  evening  gangs.  It  was 
this  decision  also  which  enabled  the  police  com- 
missioners to  take  up  the  problem  of  truancy. 
The  cure  of  truancy  means  much  more  than  fining 
parents  or  dragging  a  boy  by  the  collar  to  the 
school.  The  citizens  in  several  of  the  school  cities 
have  accomplished  more  than  the  truant  officers 
appointed  by  the  board  of  education. 

The  efficiency  of  these  children  in  handling  mat- 
ters that  have  troubled  older  heads  suggests  a  wide 
range  of  opportunities  for  social  growth.  The  re- 
sults obtained  by  some  of  the  school  officers  are 
amazing.  Miracles  are  common  occurrences.  The 
children  in  School  109,  Brooklyn,  could  not  keep 
the  building  clean  because  of  the  defective  street 
pavement.  They  also  found  the  noise  of  the  traffic 
disturbing.  Their  senators  and  representatives 
instructed  the  school  street  commissioner  to  take 
up  the  matter  with  the  city  authorities.  Finally, 
through  the  persistent  efforts  of  the  youthful  com- 
missioner, the  streets  in  the  vicinity  of  the  school 
were  repaved. 


60  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

Again  the  local  board  for  School  147,  Manhat- 
tan, tried  for  five  years  to  secure  guards  for  the 
trees  around  the  school  building.  Recently  the 
park  commissioner  of  the  School  City  undertook 
to  procure  them.  The  guards  were  furnished  and, 
in  addition,  eight  new  trees  were  supplied.  This  is 
training  through  doing.  Its  practice  is  not  in  high 
favor  among  pedagogues,  but  the  theory  is  a 
charming  subject  for  teachers'  institutes.  One  is 
reminded  of  Bernard  Shaw's  epigram,  "Those  who 
can,  do;  those  who  cannot,  teach." 

In  all  of  the  schools  in  which  pupil-government 
exists,  the  administrative  officer  for  each  room 
assumes  control  in  the  absence  of  the  teacher.  In 
School  23  of  the  Bronx,  the  governor  takes  charge. 
He  uses  the  teacher's  "plan-book,"  conducts  the 
recitation  and  assigns  the  lesson  for  the  following 
day. 

The  writer  wandered  through  School  1 10,  Man- 
hattan, looking  for  disorder.  By  chance  he  stepped 
into  a  room  in  which  a  member  of  the  class  was 
explaining  a  problem  on  the  blackboard.  The 
room  was  quiet  and  the  children  were  hard  at 
work.  When  asked  why  he  was  in  charge,  the  boy 
replied  that  he  was  the  alderman  from  that  room 
and  the  teacher  had  been  called  out. 

A  teacher  from  School  109,  Brooklyn,  was  unex- 
pectedly detained  at  home  during  the  morning 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  61 

session.  When  she  succeeded  in  getting  word  to 
the  principal,  he  found  on  going  to  the  room,  that 
the  mayor  of  the  School  City  had  taken  charge 
and  was  conducting  the  recitation. 

This  attitude  toward  the  work  is  characteristic 
of  all  schools  which  have  pupil-government,  so  far 
as  the  writer  has  been  able  to  obtain  information 
regarding  them.  The  school  consciousness  has 
been  replaced  by  a  social  consciousness.  The 
children  are  working  together  to  accomplish  some- 
thing. The  work  is  theirs  and  the  teacher  is  there 
to  assist,  not  to  drive.  In  his  absence,  everything 
goes  on  as  usual,  and,  on  his  return,  the  children 
are  loaded  with  questions  and  difficulties.  There 
is  no  attempt  to  show  off.  The  same  serious  activ- 
ity prevails  as  when  children  are  trying  to  build  a 
boat  on  a  Saturday  afternoon. 

Teachers  are  so  vigorous  in  their  denial  that  this 
attitude  toward  school-work  can  exist  among  chil- 
dren without  the  strong  disciplinary  hand  of  a 
pedagogue,  that  the  writer,  at  the  risk  of  repeti- 
tion, will  describe  in  some  detail  one  of  the  schools 
referred  to  above.  It  is  School  no,  Manhattan. 

The  school  has  about  2,300  pupils,  over  95  per 
cent  of  whom  are  foreigners.  It  is  located  in  the 
most  crowded  section  of  Greater  New  York,  and 
at  the  present  time  1  contains,  among  others,  14 

1  Namely,  at  the  time  when  the  writer  visited  it  in  1911. 


62  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

part-time  classes.  About  150  of  the  boys  were 
sent  to  the  school  from  the  courts  or  from  other 
schools  in  which  they  were  said  to  be  incorrigible. 
Surely,  such  a  school  is  about  as  hopeless  for  pupil- 
government  as  one  could  find.  But  let  us  see  what 
the  principal  has  to  say  about  it. 

"  Pupil-government,  which  we  have  had  for  over 
nine  years,  has  become  so  much  a  part  of  the  school 
administration  that  we  should  feel  considerably 
handicapped  without  it.  We  have  been  relieved 
of  the  supervision  of  the  yards,  halls,  and  stairs 
at  all  times. 

"The  authority  of  the  pupil-government  extends 
wherever  the  citizens  of  the  school  may  be  found, 
even  into  the  homes. 

"We  have  found  that  the  example  of  the  [school] 
citizens  and  the  personal  influence  of  the  [pupil] 
officers  have  been  more  successful  in  reaching  the 
incorrigible  boys  and  those  sent  by  the  courts  than 
anything  else.  We  refer  our  cases  of  truancy  to 
the  mayor,  who  investigates  and  assigns  the  de- 
linquents to  certain  of  his  officers.  These  boys  take 
a  personal  interest  in  the  pupils  both  in  the  school 
and  in  their  homes.  They  invite  them  to  join  in 
their  games,  offer  to  help  them  in  their  studies, 
seek  them  out  when  they  are  absent,  and  try  in  all 
possible  ways  to  help  them  to  become  eligible  for 
citizenship  in  the  School  City." 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  63 

This  is  the  way  pupil-government  works  out  in 
a  school  apparently  least  adapted  to  the  success 
of  the  plan. 

Pupil-government  is  no  longer  an  experiment.  It 
has  secured  results  which  the  school-master  has 
failed  to  obtain  by  the  traditional  method;  and 
it  has  gained  these  results  in  enough  schools  and 
under  sufficiently  unfavorable  conditions  to  en- 
able us,  in  case  of  failure,  to  know  that  the  blame 
rests  on  the  principal.  It  is  a  matter  of  under- 
standing boys  and  being  able  to  treat  with  them 
on  terms  of  equality.  But  there  is  where  the 
hitch  comes.  Equality  in  relation  to  the  pupils 
is  repugnant  to  school-masters.  It  collides  with 
their  feeling  of  superiority.  Besides,  pedagogical 
lore  is  against  it.  The  idea  is  not  covered  with 
the  mould  of  antiquity.  The  writer  admits  that 
working  on  terms  of  equality  with  one's  pupils 
has  not  been  the  pedagogical  fashion;  but  the 
few  men  who  practised  it  were  geniuses  at  teach- 
ing. This  ought  to  give  the  plan  respectability. 
It  is  natural  that  a  change  of  style  should  be 
opposed.  It  involves  discarding  a  good  many 
antique  ideas,  to  say  nothing  of  men.  The  fash- 
ionable method,  however,  has  not  been  produc- 
tive of  results.  It  has  not  proved  itself  efficient. 
Dissatisfaction  with,  education  in  America  was 
never  keener  than  it  is  to-day.  The  cause  of  the 


64  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

trouble,  as  usual,  is  the  boy.  He  neither  respects 
nor  obeys.  He  is  growing  up  without  any  regard 
for  law  or  feeling  of  responsibility.  This  is  the 
way  one  often  hears  the  conditions  stated. 

The  other  day  a  friend  told  the  writer  that  the 
inhabitants  of  her  town  had  been  obliged  to  give 
up  raising  flowers.  The  school  children  jump  the 
fences  and  pull  up  the  flowers  with  the  roots,  rac- 
ing over  the  grounds  as  suits  their  youthful  pleas- 
ure. This  is  their  method  of  securing  "specimens  " 
for  the  class-room.  It  is  easier  than  going  to  the 
woods.  This  is  in  New  England,  where  they  are 
popularly  supposed  to  do  educational  things  a  lit- 
tle better  than  on  the  "western  frontier."  Besides, 
the  schools  of  this  town  are  somewhat  renowned 
for  their  efficiency  even  in  New  England.  They 
have  even  been  in  the  magazines.  Therefore, 
they  must  be  among  the  best  from  the  standpoint 
at  least  of  righteous  pedagogues.  So  perhaps 
we  shall  not  be  thought  indefensibly  pessimistic 
if  we  venture  the  opinion  that  the  discouraging 
statement  regarding  the  lawlessness  of  American 
boys  is  not  wholly  without  foundation.  But  if 
our  justification  for  this  admission  is  still  ques- 
tioned, it  is  only  necessary  to  call  attention  to  the 
touching  wails  heard  at  educational  gatherings. 
The  last  of  these  lamentations  was  uttered  at  the 
recent  meeting  of  the  National  Education  Associa- 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  65 

tion.  "Disregard  for  law  is  fast  becoming  an  Amer- 
ican characteristic,"  l  is  the  way  it  was  put.  To 
remedy  this  unfortunate  condition,  the  committee 
thinks  that  "certain  elemental  virtues  must  be  in- 
culcated in  childhood  and  youth."  Thirty-four 
virtues  are  enumerated.  A  course  of  instruction 
is  offered  which  shall  inoculate  kindergarten  chil- 
dren against  the  germs  of  inattention,  disobedi- 
ence, and  selfishness,  to  be  followed  in  the  gram- 
mar school  by  suitable  doses  of  patriotism,  courage, 
and  determination.  The  virtuous  product  is  then 
to  be  preserved  in  altruism  by  a  high-school  course 
in  the  relations  of  the  individual  to  society. 

The  conviction  that  "certain  elemental  virtues 
must  be  inculcated  in  childhood  and  youth,"  is 
older  than  man  himself.  The  question  for  dis- 
cussion is  not  the  duty  but  the  means.  This  is 
the  problem,  and  the  writer  ventures  the  asser- 
tion that  the  method  proposed  by  the  Committee 
on  Teaching  Morals  will  not  solve  it.  Children 
are  immune  to  talks.  Were  they  not,  they  would 
long  since  have  perished  from  despair  over  the 
hopelessness  of  ever  growing  up  to  the  state  of 
perfection  of  the  talkers. 

To-day  we  are  in  the  patent-medicine  stage  of 
education.  We  are  always  seeking  pedagogical 

1  "Tentative  Report  of  the  Committee  on  a  System  of  Teaching 
Morals  in  the  Public  Schools,"  p.  2. 


66  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

elixirs  for  the  cure  of  childhood's  satanic  exuda- 
tions. When  shall  we  learn  that  the  common- 
place maxim,  "We  learn  by  doing,"  is  as  valid  in 
morality  as  in  the  manual-training  department? 
Children  grow  into  the  social  virtues  by  practis- 
ing them.  And  no  teacher  is  so  efficient  in  this 
training  as  the  playmates  of  the  boys.  The  dif- 
ference is  that  under  the  method  of  precept  and 
instruction,  the  children  look  upon  rules  of  con- 
duct as  part  of  the  teacher's  stock  in  trade.  They 
are  rules  which  adults  put  upon  them.  Of  course 
children  do  not  reason  it  out.  They  do  not  an- 
alyze either  the  rules  or  the  situations.  They 
simply  look  upon  the  requirements  as  useless  ob- 
stacles to  their  pleasure  at  the  moment.  Under 
self-government,  however,  all  this  changes.  A 
New  York  principal  who  has  a  successful  pupil 
organization  thinks  one  of  its  advantages  is  just 
this,  that  it  makes  children  analytic.  The  writer 
himself  heard  an  animated  and  intelligent  discus- 
sion, in  a  legislative  assembly  of  the  school  to 
which  reference  has  just  been  made,  of  the  ques- 
tion whether  pupils  should  be  allowed  to  speak 
in  class  without  permission  of  the  teacher.  The 
problem  which  these  youngsters  were  trying  to 
solve  was,  What  conditions  are  most  favorable  to 
the  progress  of  class-work  ?  Did  they  themselves 
— the  pupils — receive  more  from  the  recitation 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  .       67 

when  each  one  could  ask  questions  and  express  his 
opinion  without  restraint?  There  was  no  school 
consciousness  here.  It  was  social  consciousness — 
the  attitude  of  co-operation  for  a  definite  end. 
They  had  something  to  do  with  which  they  were 
all  vitally  concerned.  How  could  they  best  do 
it?  Having  decided  that  problem,  they  firmly 
hold  one  another  to  the  agreement.  This  is  teach- 
ing self-control,  and  training  in  obedience  to  law. 
School  efficiency  reduces  itself  finally  to  the  men- 
tal attitude  of  the  pupils.  Subjects  of  study  may 
be  rearranged.  The  hours  may  be  shortened  or 
lengthened.  Promotion  may  be  rapid  or  slow.  It 
will  all  be  useless  unless  at  the  same  time  the 
children  are  freed  from  the  notion  that  the  school- 
work  and  discipline  are  put  upon  them  by  an 
extraneous  and  superior  force.  Introduce  any 
improvement  you  please  and  the  educational 
efficiency  will  still  be  determined  by  the  mental 
attitude  of  the  pupils  toward  their  work.  The 
excuse  for  printing  this  platitude  is  that  school- 
men have  not  grasped  it.  They  are  continually 
trying  to  interest  children  through  new  machinery, 
such  as  attractive  studies  or  by  oiling  the  old 
engine  with  sentimentality.  But  boys  ridicule 
sentimentality,  and  if  the  new  studies  attract 
them  for  the  moment,  the  problem  remains  un- 
solved. For  mental  growth  requires  that  children 


68  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

enter  vigorously  into  the  accomplishment  of  what- 
ever work  is  given  them. 

Too  much  attention  is  being  given  to  wheed- 
ling children  into  learning.  This  statement  will 
meet  with  approval  because  it  coincides  with  man's 
desire  to  display  authority.  Besides,  there  is  at 
present  a  strong  reaction  against  the  cajolery 
practised  by  the  schools.  The  conclusion,  how- 
ever, that  relief  is  to  be  found  in  severe  discipline 
from  the  principal's  office  is  a  mistake.  Martinets 
are  no  more  fitted  for  the  school-room  than  senti- 
mentalists. A  threatening  hand  will  make  a  boy 
cringe  while  it  is  raised,  but  he  slyly  awaits  his 
chance  when  the  back  is  turned.  Martinets  make 
cowards  and  sneaks,  but  not  men.  They  do  not 
train  for  self-control.  Neither  do  they  produce 
an  attitude  of  mind  which  gives  educational  effi- 
ciency. Severe  discipline  from  the  teacher's  desk 
accentuates  the  school  consciousness  in  the  pupils, 
and  it  is  just  this  state  of  mind  that  fosters  op- 
position and  resentment.  Everything  which  the 
children  do  under  these  conditions  is  done  through 
compulsion  or  fear.  Educational  efficiency  re- 
quires co-operation  between  teachers  and  pupils, 
and  co-operation  means  the  elimination  of  the 
school  consciousness  and  the  substitution  for  it 
of  the  social  consciousness.  A  few  men  have  the 
power  to  create  at  once  an  intimate  alliance  with 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  69 

children.  When  they  do  this,  they  produce  a  sit- 
uation similar  to  that  which  exists  under  pupil 
government.  They  accomplish  the  same  result 
without  the  aid  of  the  machinery  of  organization. 
But  such  teachers  are  lamentably  few.  The  writer 
usually  finds  the  most  rascally  little  deceivers  in 
the  schools  of  principals  who  boast  loudest  of  the 
seraphic  virtues  of  their  charges.  The  proper 
order  has  been  reversed.  These  children  have 
learned  how  to  manage  the  principal. 

Pupil-government  creates  a  desire  for  order,  dis- 
cipline, and  study,  because  the  children  feel  that 
they  are  in  charge.  Authority  always  produces 
an  attitude  of  responsibility.  The  pupils  regard 
rules  of  conduct  as  vital  to  themselves  because 
the  problems  of  the  school  are  now  their  own. 
Infractions  of  the  regulations  interfere  with  the 
performance  of  their  work.  So  they  are  severe 
in  their  judgments.  They  tend  to  view  every- 
thing from  a  personal  and  social  point  of  view. 
"But  only  the  man  who  has  had  experience  in 
both  methods,  the  old  institution-method  of  dis- 
cipline and  the  plan  of  a  limited  self-government, 
can  realize  the  enormous  difference  in  the  spirit 
of  discipline,  the  powerful  effect  upon  the  char- 
acter and  individualities  of  the  children  and  upon 
the  morals  in  general.  .  .  .  Instead  of  training  the 
child  to  blind  submission  and  blind  obedience,  it 


70  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

helps  him  to  evolve,  to  clarify,  to  rationalize  into 
moral  precepts  and  judgments  what  would  other- 
wise appear  to  him  oppressive  and  repulsive  laws." l 

The  writer  has  seen  all  of  the  virtues  for  which 
the  Committee  on  Teaching  Morals  has  prepared 
its  mixture,  taught  on  the  playground,  in  the 
school,  and  at  the  courts  of  the  schools  which 
have  pupil-government.  The  health  commissioner 
attends  to  tidiness,  and  every  citizen  sees  to  it 
that  the  necessity  of  obedience,  self-sacrifice,  pa- 
triotism, courage,  determination,  and  the  relations 
of  individuals  to  society  are  impressed  upon  those 
who  need  them.  To  be  called  to  account  by  one 
of  their  own  companions  is  a  serious  matter.  It 
lacks  the  entertaining  features  of  a  similar  arraign- 
ment by  their  teacher.  They  are  no  longer  mar- 
tyrs and  heroes.  They  are  outcasts  from  their 
playmates  until  they  make  good.  The  chief  trouble 
in  pupil-government  is  not  laxity  in  enforcement 
of  law.  The  boys  are  inclined  to  be  too  severe. 
The  offenders  submit  gracefully,  however,  because 
it  is  the  decision  of  their  associates.  To  "take 
their  medicine*'  without  wincing  is  a  part  of  the 
ethics  of  boys — that  is,  if  the  medicine  is  pre- 
scribed by  their  comrades. 

Under  the  system  of  teacher  control,  boys  look 

1 "  Some  Modern  Tendencies  in  Jewish  Orphan  Asylum  Work,"  by 
Ludwig  B.  Bernstein,  pp.  18-19. 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  71 

upon  order  as  an  evil  to  be  endured  only  when 
the  uselessness  of  resistance  to  a  superior  force 
has  been  demonstrated.  This  does  not  mean  that 
a  fight  always  precedes  the  acceptance  of  over- 
lordship.  It  is  usually  assumed  that  the  teacher 
can  maintain  his  authority  if  the  issue  be  forced, 
but  the  children  test  him  in  various  ways  to  learn 
how  far  they  may  go.  If  conditions  seem  favor- 
able, they  push  on  further.  They  feel  their  way 
with  more  or  less  caution,  at  first,  but  grow  bolder 
as  they  find  their  advance  and  the  accompanying 
pleasures  undisturbed.  With  a  new  teacher  these 
actions  are  much  like  those  of  pioneers  exploring 
a  strange  land.  They  are  in  an  enemy's  country 
and  must  move  cautiously,  retreating  when  the 
opposing  force  is  too  strong  for  successful  opposi- 
tion. Children  have  not  yet  learned  to  prize  order 
as  a  means  of  providing  the  quiet  necessary  for 
study.  Why  should  they  appreciate  the  value  of 
discipline  before  they  understand  the  determina- 
tion and  persistence  which  must  precede  and  ac- 
company success  in  life?  The  educational  utility 
of  pupil-government  grows  out  of  this  lack  of  ex- 
perience. Self-government  turns  school  sentiment 
into  a  forceful  motive  for  discipline  without  re- 
quiring the  pupils  to  appreciate  the  future  value  of 
the  training.  They  are  acquiring  ideas  of  social 
rights  and  duties,  and  habits  of  study;  and  they 


72  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

are  securing  them  under  conditions  essentially  the 
same  as  those  in  the  outside  world.  This  is  a  clear 
improvement  on  the  traditional  school  which  intro- 
duces unreal  conditions  found  nowhere  else  in  life. 

But  there  is  another  reason  for  children's  resist- 
ance to  external  authority.  Man  wants  to  have 
his  opinions  asked.  It  was  not  oppression  that 
caused  our  forefathers  to  revolt  against  England. 
They  only  wanted  to  be  consulted  about  taxes 
and  a  few  other  matters.  Had  the  king's  advisers 
understood  men  well  enough  to  consult  with  the 
colonists  about  ways  and  means  of  raising  money, 
they  would  probably  have  drunk  George's  health 
in  well-brewed  tea  instead  of  diluting  it  in  the 
water  of  Boston  harbor. 

It  must  be  admitted  that,  until  quite  recently, 
in  the  United  States  at  least,  this  regard  for  one's 
opinions  was  easily  satisfied.  It  was  sufficient  for 
all  requirements  that  the  government  be  called 
democratic  and  representative.  Political  business 
could  then  be  transacted  by  packed  caucuses  and 
conventions  without  interference  from  those  who 
were  deceived  into  believing  that  they  were  rep- 
resented. The  delusion  was  aided  by  sending 
men  around  to  invite  the  people  to  political  meet- 
ings to  hear  the  questions  of  the  day  discussed. 
The  inference  which  men  drew  was  that  their 
opinions  and  votes  were  thought  valuable. 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  73 

This  credulity,  awakened  by  appeals  to  man's 
self-esteem  and  love  of  glory,  is  a  rudimentary 
trait  in  the  civilized  adult.  It  is  strikingly  con- 
spicuous in  savages  and  normally  characteristic  of 
children,  since  they  live  the  psychical  life  of  our 
primitive  ancestors.  Its  general  and  obtrusive 
presence  in  adults  is  evidence  that  man  is  only 
relatively  civilized.  Scratch  his  skin  and  you  draw 
the  blood  of  the  savage.  Tickle  him  gently  and 
the  simplicity  of  early  man  responds  to  your  touch. 

To-day,  however,  the  insistent  demand,  among 
other  things,  for  direct  primaries  and  the  recall, 
indicates  the  approach  of  a  new  stage  in  man's 
evolution.  He  is  growing  restless  under  sham 
democracy  and  misrepresentation. 

Children,  in  spite  of  their  credulity  in  many 
matters,  are  excessively  jealous  of  their  preroga- 
tive to  manage  their  own  affairs.  They  are  quick 
to  see  through  pretence  and  affected  compliance 
with  their  wishes.  Their  zeal  for  their  institu- 
tions may  date  back  to  the  tribal  relations  of 
primitive  man  when  each  member  of  the  group 
was  conscious  of  his  importance  in  the  deliberative 
councils  of  his  nation.  At  any  rate,  the  upper 
grammar  and  high  school  age  is  the  period  in  which 
children  are  devoted  to  governmental  functions. 

The  desire  to  be  consulted  in  the  management 
of  their  business  rarely  takes  the  form  of  specific 


74  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

demands.  To  be  sure,  boys  occasionally  have  their 
revolts  or  their  "strikes,"  but  these  are  only  spo- 
radic occurrences.  The  rarity  of  these  events  is 
probably  due  to  the  children's  realization  of  their 
own  weakness.  They  know  that  an  outbreak  will 
be  sternly  suppressed.  Consequently,  they  adopt 
the  subtler  method  of  secret  resistance  and  de- 
ception. Stern  repression  is  the  best  culture  for 
deceit.  Pupil-government,  on  the  other  hand,  cul- 
tivates frankness.  The  motive  for  deception  is 
removed,  since  the  enactment  and  enforcement  of 
rules  are  in  their  hands.  They  do  not  deceive 
one  another  because,  among  their  fellows,  the  im- 
pulse prevails  to  admit  the  offence,  to  stand  their 
ground  and  defend  themselves.  Moreover,  boys 
are  clever  in  detecting  falsehood.  They  know  the 
game.  Besides,  they  are  not  repressed  by  social, 
or,  if  you  please,  educational  restraints.  They  do 
not  hesitate  to  accuse  of  falsehood.  In  this  way, 
by  their  own  "third  degree"  they  often  force  a 
confession  which  an  adult  would  only  inhibit.  To 
be  accused  of  falsehood  by  playmates  does  not 
have  the  disastrous  effect  which  would  follow  if 
the  charge  were  made  by  the  teacher.  Indeed, 
when  the  accusation  is  made  and  proved  by  play- 
mates the  result  is  decidedly  educative.  Pupil- 
government  thus  becomes  a  highly  moral  instru- 
ment for  the  schools. 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  75 

There  are  several  reasons  why  self-government 
appeals  so  strongly  to  children.  They  want  to 
organize  and  direct  something.  If  they  are  not 
allowed  responsible  participation  in  school  mat- 
ters they  do  not  regard  the  business  as  theirs. 
It  is  the  teacher's  and  he  must  handle  it  as  best 
he  can  without  their  assistance.  Meanwhile,  since 
they  are  determined  to  manage  something,  they 
arrange  other  events  without  regard  to  conflict 
of  dates.  That  is  the  trouble.  The  school  busi- 
ness and  boys'  events  are  scheduled  for  the  same 
hour  and  place,  i.  e.,  the  school-room.  Or,  if  the 
success  of  an  event  requires  a  different  date,  other 
business,  such  as  the  teacher's,  is  laid  aside  and 
the  principal  finds  the  conflict  of  interests  on  the 
walls  of  the  building  when  he  arrives  in  the  morn- 
ing. And  all  because  the  teachers  are  unwilling 
to  take  the  boys  into  co-operative  partnership  and 
give  them  a  hand  in  managing  the  school  buisness. 

Pupil-government  appeals  to  the  instinct  for 
concerted  action.  After  boys  have  passed  beyond 
the  individualism  of  early  childhood,  they  unite 
for  work  and  play.  When  they  do  not  choose 
sides,  they  fall  naturally  into  pretty  well-defined 
groups.  Of  course  each  group  has  its  leader.  He 
does  much  of  their  thinking  for  them,  suggests 
their  exploits,  and  preserves  peace  and  order  ac- 
cording to  boy  standards.  Usually  the  leader 


76  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

amalgamates  divergent  interests  by  his  overpow- 
ering personality.  No  one  type  of  act  is  char- 
acteristic of  their  organizations.  The  boys  usu- 
ally engage  in  adventures  or  crimes  because  they 
are  left  to  themselves.  Under  guidance  they  are 
as  capable  of  heroic  self-sacrifice  as  of  crime.  The 
question  is  wholly  one  of  leadership,  and  here  the 
skilful  teacher  plays  his  part.  But  he  must  not 
direct  in  the  domineering,  school-masterish  fashion. 
That  at  once  puts  the  boys  in  opposition.  The 
teachers  in  one  of  the  school  republics  quietly  ad- 
vocated the  candidacy  of  a  favorite  boy  for  mayor. 
As  might  have  been  expected,  an  opposition  can- 
didate of  "the  people"  arose  and  carried  the  elec- 
tion by  an  overwhelming  majority.  Curiously 
enough,  too,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  teachers' 
fears,  the  republic  did  not  go  to  pieces.  The  new 
mayor  rose  to  the  occasion.  The  children  in  this 
school  taught  their  teachers  a  lesson  in  govern- 
ment. They  were  more  open  in  dealing  with  their 
superiors  than  the  latter  had  been  in  the  methods 
which  they  followed.  Besides  learning  that  can- 
dor is  the  best  policy  in  school,  the  teachers  dis- 
covered that  children  are  often  better  judges  of 
the  capacity  of  one  another  than  are  those  who 
are  over  them. 

Boys  can  always  be  handled  if  the  touch  be 
delicate.     But  ideas  must  be  suggested  rather  than 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  77 

commanded.  Successful  training  consists  in  im- 
planting thoughts  so  gently  that  they  seem  to 
spring  up  in  the  mind  of  the  pupil.  Then  he  is 
proud  of  them  and  acts  upon  them,  because  they 
are  his  own. 

Authority,  even  in  trivial  matters,  brings  con- 
sciousness of  responsibility,  and  so  the  leader  fre- 
quently asks  for  advice.  The  teacher,  however, 
should  never  force  an  action  in  matters  which  he 
has  turned  over  to  his  pupils.  It  were  better  that 
the  boys  make  mistakes.  They  are  quick  to  see 
an  error,  and  invariably  profit  from  it.  You  may 
rest  assured  that  children  want  things  which  they 
control  to  be  successful.  Their  earnestness  for 
order  and  work  under  pupil-government  is  amaz- 
ing to  those  who  have  always  thought  that  teachers 
are  the  only  ones  who  can  manage  a  school. 

Taking  the  children  into  partnership  does  not 
give  the  teachers  less  to  do,  but  it  adds  to  their 
work  the  interest  which  attends  co-operative  plan- 
ning. Instead  of  continually  watching  for  dis- 
order the  teacher  now  has  freedom  to  think.  If 
disturbance  occurs  in  the  absence  of  the  teacher, 
the  proper  official  of  the  School  City  at  once  as- 
serts his  authority.  Boys  have  a  very  effective 
way  of  suppressing  resistance  to  the  mandates  of 
their  government. 

Self-government  is  not  a  plaything  for  the  en- 


78  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

tertainment  of  pupils  and  teacher  during  leisure 
moments.  It  must  be  serious  business  if  it  is  to 
amount  to  anything.  The  writer  has  found  schools 
in  which  little  could  be  said  to  its  credit.  But  in 
all  such  cases  a  day  in  the  school  revealed  the 
fact  that  the  cause  of  the  trouble  was  the  fault  of 
the  teachers  and  not  the  pupils.  Any  number  of 
failures  in  a  given  method  does  not  condemn  the 
plan.  Failure  needs  no  ability.  Any  one  can  fail. 
Success,  however,  is  a  different  proposition.  Here 
lies  the  test  of  power.  One  success  under  typical 
conditions  establishes  the  right  of  the  method  to  a 
hearing.  And  pupil-government  has  succeeded  in 
localities  where,  according  to  the  popular  judg- 
ment regarding  children,  it  should  have  failed. 

The  plan  which  we  are  advocating  involves  a 
complete  change  in  the  attitude  of  teachers  toward 
their  pupils.  The  schools,  as  usually  conducted, 
break  down  completely  in  training  for  self-control. 
The  reason  for  this  is  that  pupils  are  under  con- 
stant espionage  from  those  over  them.  If  moni- 
tors are  appointed  they  are  looked  upon  as  the 
teachers'  agents.  The  children  are  "good"  so 
long  as  they  are  watched.  Why  should  they  seek 
to  control  themselves  when  every  movement  is 
directed  from  the  teacher's  desk?  The  only 
opportunity  for  individual  initiative  is  toward 
disorder.  No  wonder  they  seek  this  outlet.  Self- 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  79 

control  is  a  delicate  growth.  It  requires  a  stimu- 
lating environment.  Even  instincts  which  have 
their  roots  far  back  in  the  early  life  of  the  species 
are  dependent  upon  environment  for  their  emer- 
gence. Much  more  must  this  dependence  upon 
surroundings  prevail  for  states  of  consciousness  so 
new  in  the  race  as  those  that  lead  to  self-control. 
And  it  is  in  the  absence  of  conditions  which  pro- 
mote this  attitude  of  mind  that  the  schools  fail 
most  conspicuously. 

One  of  the  functions  of  the  school  is  popularly 
thought  to  be  training  for  life.  Yet  the  only  way 
in  which  they  do  this  is  by  giving  the  pupils  a 
little  knowledge.  Mentally  and  ethically  the  chil- 
dren are  kept  in  a  state  of  bondage.  They  are 
told  what  they  may  do  and  what  they  may  not 
do.  Even  their  knowledge  is  measured  out  to 
them  in  doses  assimilable  by  the  mythical  "aver- 
age child,"  without  any  reference  to  individual 
needs.  Then,  at  the  end  of  it  all,  they  are  sent 
out  into  the  world,  the  large  majority  of  them  to 
make  their  own  way  with  little  personal  guidance. 
What  has  the  school  done  for  them  in  the  matter 
of  self-direction  in  work  or  self-control  in  conduct? 

The  remark  is  often  heard  that  children  learn 
more  from  one  another  than  from  their  teach- 
ers. This  is  doubtless  true  as  far  as  self-control  is 
concerned.  Children  regard  the  opinions  of  their 


80  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

playmates  as  valid  judgments.  Those  of  adults 
are  beliefs  of  a  strange  people.  Boys  think  of 
themselves  as  apart  from  whoever  may  be  placed 
over  them.  The  desires  and  pleasures  are  not  the 
same  and  hence  arises  an  antagonism  of  interests. 
With  their  associates,  however,  the  matter  is  dif- 
ferent. Here  is  harmony  of  desires.  On  the  play- 
ground, therefore,  the  boy  learns  to  think  of  him- 
self as  a  responsible  person  in  relation  to  other 
persons.  In  the  school-room  his  responsibility  is 
divided.  He  still  maintains  the  same  loyalty  to- 
ward his  playmates,  but  the  teacher  is  in  a  differ- 
ent class.  The  boy  of  grammar-school  age  is  just 
emerging  from  the  individualistic  stage,  and  re- 
sponsibility is  pretty  closely  restricted  to  his  "set." 
At  all  events,  his  duty  toward  its  members  is 
greatly  exaggerated.  So  he  will  not  report  an- 
other for  misdemeanor. 

Now,  one  of  the  ethical  duties  of  the  school  is  to 
train  children  to  a  larger  view  of  social  responsibil- 
ity— to  help  them  outgrow  the  stage  of  group 
individualism.  Further,  if  good  behavior  means 
anything  more  than  obedience  through  fear,  and 
if  the  elemental  virtues  of  the  Committee  on 
Teaching  Morals  are  to  have  any  other  than  a  self- 
ish basis,  the  individual  and  group  interests,  of 
which  we  have  been  speaking,  must  be  identified 
with  the  interests  of  society  as  a  whole.  And  this 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  81 

is  exactly  the  service  that  pupil-government  per- 
forms. The  interests  of  pupils  and  teacher  are 
merged  in  one.  The  children  regard  the  one  as 
theirs.  Good!  That  is  just  the  condition  for  ac- 
complishing most.  The  pupils  now  report  mis- 
demeanors to  their  own  officers  or  to  the  teacher. 
They  are  not  tale-bearers,  because  there  is  only 
one  social  group.  They  are  united  against  all 
who  disturb  the  common  interests. 

But  the  extension  of  social  responsibility  does 
not  end  here.  The  ruling  of  the  school  courts,  that 
the  authority  of  the  officers  of  the  School  City 
reaches  wherever  the  citizens  of  the  school  are 
found,  enlarges  also  the  duties  of  the  citizens. 
Wherever  authority  goes,  there  also  is  responsi- 
bility. So  the  young  citizens  take  an  interest  in 
the  less  fortunate  members  of  their  school.  They 
visit  them  when  they  are  sick.  They  ascertain  the 
reason  for  absence,  plan  for  the  reformation  of 
truants,  and  contribute  from  their  mite  to  those 
in  need. 

Through  the  park  and  health  commissioners, 
their  interest  goes  even  further.  During  the  re- 
cent threatened  water  famine  in  New  York,  the 
officers  of  School  147,  Manhattan,  gave  directions 
in  the  paper  of  the  School  City  for  the  conservation 
of  water  in  the  homes.  The  concluding  statement 
was,  "If  you  notice  anybody  wasting  water,  ex- 


82  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

plain  the  danger  of  such  action.  If  your  sugges- 
tions are  not  heeded,  notify  the  health  commis- 
sioner of  the  School  City."  This  is  only  one  of  the 
many  public  duties  which  have  been  assumed. 
There  have  been  campaigns  against  dirt  as  well 
as  against  danger  to  life  through  the  obstruction 
of  fire-escapes.  The  extent  to  which  the  social 
spirit  may  be  engendered  through  pupil-govern- 
ment is  limited  only  by  the  ability  of  the  teacher 
to  deal  with  boys. 

We  found,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  that  the 
racial  instincts  of  children  call  for  action.  When 
left  to  themselves  these  impulses  lead  to  atavistic 
adventures.  The  boy  tends  to  revert  to  the  primi- 
tive type  of  savage  man.  But  action  has  a  wide 
range  and  boys  do  not  require  merely  one  sort. 
Training  in  behavior  consists  largely  in  discovering 
activities  that  have  social  worth  and  which  still 
satisfy  the  racial  claim.  The  enthusiasm  for  ad- 
ventures then  extends  to  the  ethical  ideas  that  are 
worked  into  these  activities.  The  ideas  receive 
their  juvenile  value  by  being  an  integral  part  of 
the  adventure.  So  we  have  learned  that  truthful- 
ness and  sympathy  and  trustworthiness  are  eagerly 
sought  by  Boy  Scouts  because  these  virtues  are 
a  part  of  the  character  of  a  scout.  But  this  is 
only  one  example  of  a  type  of  acts.  The  writer 
found  youngsters  just  as  proud  of  being  "citi- 


THE  WAYS  OF  YOUTH  83 

zens"  as  of  being  scouts.  Managing  the  organi- 
zation of  a  school  republic,  in  its  turn,  makes  a 
strong  racial  appeal.  And  here,  as  before,  the 
enthusiasm  is  carried  over  to  associated  ideas  and 
purposes.  So  the  social  responsibility  of  the  School 
City,  as  exemplified  in  the  school  court  and  on 
the  playground,  spreads  to  the  school-work.  The 
boys  behave  and  study  because  order  and  industry 
are  characteristic  of  good  citizens.  In  this  way 
the  entire  school  programme  shares  the  advantages 
of  the  new  spirit. 

To  think  events  in  their  right  proportion  re- 
quires as  much  effort  and  practice  as  to  learn  to 
rightly  judge  perspective,  or  to  "see"  the  earth 
round  instead  of  flat.  The  tendency  in  children 
is  always  to  exaggerate  the  factors  that  to  them 
are  impressive  and  to  miss  the  significance  of  other 
less  imposing  elements.  The  effect  of  this  is  seen 
in  discipline  and  in  studies.  The  school  conscious- 
ness pervades  both.  The  pupils  study  when  some 
one  in  authority  is  present.  Impending  penalties 
constrain  them  to  act  in  a  "reasonable"  manner. 
But  this  is  only  forced  reasonableness.  It  does  not 
train  the  children  to  see  things  in  their  right  pro- 
portion. They  study  because  they  are  compelled 
to  do  so  for  recitation  effect,  not  to  master  the  sub- 
ject. Thoughtful  teachers  freely  admit  this,  but 
they  insist  that  they  are  helpless  feeders  of  the 


84  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

school  machine.  "It  takes  too  long  to  teach  chil- 
dren to  think,"  said  a  teacher  a  short  time  ago. 
"The  machinery  is  always  grinding.  So  we  must 
fill  the  bags  as  fast  as  possible." 

Pupil-government  trains  children  to  image  sit- 
uations in  their  right  proportions.  In  other  words, 
it  teaches  them  to  think  in  social  and  ethical  terms. 
It  also  puts  them  into  the  right  state  of  mind  for 
accomplishing  things  and  keeps  their  racial  in- 
stincts busy  in  productive  ways.  That  is  a  good 
deal.  In  addition,  it  changes  the  attitude  of  the 
teachers  toward  the  pupils.  And  that  is  almost 
unprecedented. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW 

WHEN  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  was  once 
asked  at  what  age  the  education  of  a  child  should 
begin,  he  is  reported  to  have  replied,  "  Three  hun- 
dred years  before  the  child  is  born."  Unfortu- 
nately, it  has  never  been  possible  to  make  this 
pedagogical  arrangement  with  our  ancestors.  The 
immediate  problem  of  society,  therefore,  remains 
to  take  children  as  they  are  and  make  them  into 
the  best  possible  citizens. 

If  we  may  draw  inferences  from  the  life  histories 
of  the  lower  animals  regarding  the  development  of 
children,  adaptation  to  surrounding  conditions, 
with  its  accompanying  mental  and  bodily  changes, 
is  one  of  the  most  significant  of  the  educational 
forces. 

Among  wild  ducks,  intelligence  is  the  test  of  sur- 
vival, and  so  these  animals  develop  a  large  brain, 
and  are  clever  in  devices  for  outwitting  their  ene- 
mies; but  the  brains  of  their  domesticated  rela- 
tives are  smaller,  since  with  them  stupidity  is  not 
disadvantageous,  providing  they  grow  a  large  body.1 

1  De  Varigny's  "Experimental  Evolution,"  p.  166;  Lloyd  Morgan's 
"Animal  Life  and  Intelligence,"  p.  171;  Headley's  "Problems  of 
Evolution,"  p.  99. 

85 


86  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

Resistance  to  poisons  may  be  developed  in  ani- 
mals by  acclimatization.  Sometimes  this  resistance 
assumes  almost  incredible  strength.  Mice  fed  on 
food  cakes  soaked  in  a  vegetable  poison,  ricin,  may 
develop  a  power  of  resistance,  by  a  gradual  in- 
crease in  the  quantity  of  the  poison,  that  enables 
them  to  thrive  on  from  two  hundred  to  eight  hun- 
dred times  the  maximum  amount  that  could  at 
first  be  withstood.1 

To  determine  the  durability  of  this  new  adapta- 
tion, these  mice  were  fed  with  ordinary  food  for 
over  six  months  and  a  repetition  of  the  test  proved 
that  they  could  still  successfully  resist  more  than 
fifty  times  the  quantity  which  they  could  at  first 
withstand. 

"DeQuincey  at  one  time  was  in  the  habit  of 
taking  eight  thousand  drops  of  laudanum  daily, 
this  enormous  quantity  probably  producing  no 
greater  effect  than  a  dose  of  thirty  to  fifty  drops 
on  an  ordinary  man."  2 

The  extent  of  possible  adaptive  changes  is  hardly 
yet  grasped.  Experiment  has  shown  that  the 
adaptability  of  organisms  is  enormous.  By  slow 
degrees  Dallinger 3  was  able  to  accustom  Flagel- 
lata  to  life  at  70  C.  though  they  ordinarily  suc- 
cumb to  temperature  a  little  below  16°  C.  Daven- 

1I.  P.  Ehrlich,  Deutsche  Medicinische  Wochenscrifl,  vol.  70, 1891,  p.  976. 
1H.  M.  Vernon's  "Variation  in  Animals  and  Plants,"  p.  388. 
a  See  Davenport's  "  Experimental  Morphology,"  part  I,  p.  253. 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  87 

port  and  Castle  also  experimented  on  tadpoles,  and 
found  that  they  could  develop  in  them  an  increased 
resistance  to  heat  that  was  clearly  due  to  a  change 
in  the  protoplasm  of  the  individuals.1  This  ca- 
pacity for  adaptation  to  a  temperature  that  nor- 
mally is  fatal  shows  a  remarkable  latent  power  of 
variation  in  animals. 

Schmankewitsch  has  shown,  among  other  things, 
that  the  crustacean  Artemia  salina,  "living  in  salt 
water,  can  change  itself,  by  slowly  becoming  ac- 
customed to  a  higher  or  lower  percentage  of  salt, 
into  a  different  form  of  crustacean — in  water  of 
greater  concentration  into  Artemia  milhausenii^ 
and  in  fresh  water  into  Branchipus  stagnalis,  two 
forms  having  wholly  different  characteristics."  2 
DeVarigny,3  referring  to  the  investigations  of 
Schmankewitsch  and  others,  has  expressed  the 
opinion  that  change  in  environment  may  produce 
changes  in  the  structure  and  physiology  of  ani- 
mals. As  a  result  of  these  bodily  changes,  animals 
may  gradually  become  accustomed  to  conditions, 
and  thrive  in  them,  though  death  would  have  re- 
sulted had  the  change  been  sudden.  Indeed,  the 
organic  adaptation  may  be  so  complete  as  to  unfit 
them  for  survival  in  their  original  habitat.  Tad- 
poles four  or  five  weeks  old,  which  had  grown  ac- 

1  Op.  cit.,  pp.  253-254. 

2  Max  Verworn's  "General  Physiology,"  Lee's  translation,  p.  183. 
'"Experimental  Evolution,"  pp.  213-219. 


88  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

customed  to  water  containing  fourteen  grammes 
of  salt  per  litre,  died  rapidly  when  restored  to  their 
normal  element,  fresh  water.1 

The  recent  investigation  of  the  changes  in  bod- 
ily form  of  descendants  of  immigrants  is  interest- 
ing in  this  connection.  Professor  Boas  found  that 
"the  head  form,  which  has  always  been  consid- 
ered as  one  of  the  most  stable  and  permanent 
characteristics  of  human  races,  undergoes  far- 
reaching  changes  due  to  the  transfer  of  the  races 
of  Europe  to  American  soil."  2  The  ease  with 
which  Dr.  F.  A.  Woods  disposes  of  this  contribu- 
tion to  the  vexed  question  of  the  comparative  in- 
fluence of  heredity  and  environment,  by  saying 
that  "the  real  deduction  from  all  this  work  (of 
Boas),  if  indeed  it  should  be  confirmed,  is  that  it 
is  easier  to  modify  a  bone  than  it  is  a  brain,"  3 
suggests  the  story  of  the  insane  man  who  believed 
that  he  was  dead.  The  attending  physician,  wish- 
ing to  free  him  of  this  fixed  idea,  asked  whether 
dead  men  bleed. 

"No,"  replied  the  patient. 

The  physician  then  inserted  a  sharp  instrument 
into  the  man's  arm.  When  the  blood  was  flow- 
ing freely,  he  said,  "  See,  you  are  bleeding.  There- 
fore you  are  not  dead." 

1  DeVarigny,  op.  cit.,  pp.  187,  190. 

*  "Senate  Document  No.  208,  Sixty-first  Congress,  2d  Session,"  p.  7. 

*  Popular  Science  Monthly,  April,  1910. 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  89 

"But  that  only  proves  that  dead  men  can 
bleed,"  replied  the  insane  patient. 

Besides  these  progressive  alterations  in  animals, 
arrest  of  development  may  also  occur  through  the 
influence  of  the  environment.  The  gill-bearing 
period  of  many  amphibians  may  be  greatly,  and 
in  some  cases  apparently  indefinitely,  prolonged 
by  controlling  certain  environmental  conditions.1 
"If  tadpoles  be  prevented  artificially  from  creep- 
ing upon  dry  land,  they  retain  their  tails  and 
gills,  and  the  lungs  do  not  develop  even  though 
the  animals  reach  a  considerable  size."2  "In- 
deed," says  DeVarigny,  "living  organisms  are  in 
so  many  ways,  and  by  so  many  parts,  dependent 
upon  the  external  medium,  their  adaptation  to  it 
is  so  very  close,  and  the  slightest  change  in  envi- 
ronment is  apt  to  react  on  such  a  large  proportion 
of  the  vital  functions,  that  we  cannot  wonder 
at  the  enormous  influence  which  external  modi- 
fications can  exert  on  life."  3  Such  is  the  irre- 
sistible control  in  which  the  environment  holds 
the  lower  animals.  Let  us  now  examine  the  sit- 
uation in  its  relation  to  children. 

When  we  consider  the  question  of  mortality, 
the  death  rate  of  children  has  materially  decreased. 
Since  this  control  over  the  environment  seems 

1  DeVarigny's  "Experimental  Evolution,"  pp.  ni-112. 

*Max  Ve.rworn's  "General  Physiology,"  Lee's  translation,  p.  182. 

'DeVarigny's  "Experimental  Evolution,"  p.  181. 


90  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

evident  and  is  easily  tabulated,  it  has  been  ex- 
tensively quoted  as  proof  that,  so  far  at  least  as 
man  is  concerned,  environmental  influences  are 
no  longer  dominant.  The  science  of  longevity, 
however,  whether  it  deals  with  children  or  adults, 
is  only  the  systematic  application  of  adaptations 
which  have  hitherto  escaped  our  notice.  Medicine 
made  little  progress  against  tuberculosis  before 
the  discovery  of  the  open-air  treatment.  Preven- 
tive medicine  is  based  on  conformity  to  nature's 
laws.  The  environment  is  utilized,  not  ignored. 
The  part  that  intelligence  plays  is  in  the  selec- 
tion of  an  environment  suited  to  produce  the 
desired  change,  and  in  subjecting  the  patient  to 
these  conditions  so  as  to  facilitate  the  adaptation. 
In  its  larger  aspects,  however,  the  question  is  much 
more  involved.  If  children  are  preserved  with 
organs  so  defective  as  to  seriously  handicap  them 
in  the  struggle  for  success,  this  disadvantage  in- 
troduces a  serious  social  problem,  since  it  in- 
creases the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  activities 
which  make  for  character,  and  that,  too,  at  an 
age  when  the  inclination  at  best  is  toward  the 
freer,  wilder  life.  Examples  of  this  are  seen  in 
the  results  of  the  physical  examination  of  school 
children. 

From  eighty-eight  to  ninety-eight  per  cent  of 
the  New  York  City  school  children  examined  by 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  91 

physicians  from  the  Health  Department  were  in 
urgent  need  of  medical  treatment.1 

In  the  New  York  City  public  schools  252,254 
children  were  examined  by  physicians  of  the  Health 
Department  during  the  year  closing  in  July,  1910. 
Among  these  children,  which  constitute  only  about 
one-third  of  those  in  the  school,  264,625  defects 
were  found,  of  which  only  113,278  were  remedied.2 

An  investigation  of  the  children  of  the  Boston 
public  schools  by  the  Division  of  Child  Hygiene 
of  the  Health  Department  is  in  progress  at  the 
present  time.  As  this  book  goes  to  press,  42,750 
have  been  examined.  Of  these,  14,957  were  pro- 
nounced "normal"  and  27,793  were  found  defec- 
tive.3 

The  investigation  of  the  physical  condition  of 
the  children  in  the  Saint  Louis  public  schools  is 
not  yet  completed.  Up  to  the  present  time  21,334 
have  been  examined  and  of  these,  fifty-seven  per 
cent  are  defective.  This  is  ten  per  cent  less  than 
were  found  defective  last  year.  The  indication 
is  that  the  advice  given  by  the  inspectors  at  the 
previous  examinations  has  been  acted  upon  in 
some  instances  and  the  defects  remedied. 

1  "Co-operative  Studies  and  Experiments  by  the  Department  of 
Health  and  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  1908,"  p.  20. 

2  "  Twelfth  Annual  Report  of  the  New  York  City  Superintendent 
of  Public  Schools,"  p.  137. 

8  Preliminary  report  to  the  author  from  the  Chief  of  the  Division 
of  Child  Hygiene. 


92  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

The  effect  of  physical  defects  upon  retardation 
in  school  has  been  investigated  by  Mr.  Leonard 
Ayres  for  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation.  The 
study  shows,  among  other  things,  "that  when 
children  who  are  badly  retarded  are  compared 
with  normal  children  and  very  bright  children  in 
the  same  age  group,  so  that  the  diminishing  of  de- 
fects through  advancing  age  does  not  enter  as  a 
factor,  the  children  rated  as  'dull'  are  found  to 
have  higher  percentages  of  each  sort  of  defect 
than  the  normal  and  bright  children."  l 

The  exception  to  this  generalization  is  defec- 
tive vision.  The  report  of  the  medical  inspectors 
of  New  York  City,  upon  which  Dr.  Ayres  based 
his  study,  limited  their  investigation  of  eye  de- 
fects to  acuity  of  vision.  It  is  therefore  not  sur- 
prising to  find  no  connection  between  defective 
vision  and  retardation,  since  teachers  have  learned, 
during  the  last  few  years,  to  give  attention  to 
myopic  children.  Hypermetropia,  astigmatism, 
and  muscular  maladjustment,  however,  which  were 
not  considered  by  the  medical  inspectors,  nor  by 
Dr.  Ayres,  are  the  cause  of  nerve-irritating  eye- 
strain.  The  insidious  effect  of  these  ocular  ab- 
normalities, since  the  sufferers  can  see  as  well  as 
the  best,  makes  them  all  the  more  disastrous  for 

1 "  The  Effects  of  Physical  Defects  on  School  Progress,"  Psycho- 
logical Clinic,  vol.  3,  p.  76. 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  93 

the  mental  and  moral  progress  of  children.1  The 
strain,  always  present,  is  intensified  by  applica- 
tion to  books,  and  so  the  boys  are  driven  by  an 
unrecognizable  and  uncontrollable  impulse  from 
school  to  the  street.  Dr.  G.  M.  Case,  whose  pro- 
fessional work  as  eye  surgeon  in  the  Elmira  Re- 
formatory qualifies  him  as  an  expert  witness,  says : 
"There  is  no  room  for  doubting  the  fact  that  tru- 
ancy in  school  children,  in  a  large  percentage  of 
cases,  can  be  traced  to  this  cause,  which"  (when 
allowed  to  continue)  "precipitates  the  individual 
into  the  life  of  a  vagabond  and  criminal."  2 

Out  of  four  hundred  inmates  of  the  Elmira  Re- 
formatory upon  whom  Dr.  Case  has  reported, 
thirty-three  and  one-half  per  cent  had  ocular 
error  sufficient  to  require  glasses.  And  the  phy- 
sician is  of  the  opinion  that  this  proportion  is  a 
fair  statement  of  the  situation  as  regards  nearly 
four  thousand  other  inmates  whom  he  examined. 
When  it  is  understood  that  twenty-five  men  were 
tested  in  an  evening,  the  certainty  that  obscure 
defects,  those  which  produce  nervous  strain,  es- 
caped detection  becomes  evident.  The  effect  of 
this  continued  nervous  irritation  in  driving  even 
studious  boys  from  books  to  excitement,  for  re- 
lief from  the  nagging  strain,  is  well  shown  by  Dr. 

1  See  "Mind  in  the  Making,"  by  Edgar  James  Swift,  ch.  IV. 
*  Reprint  from  the  Ophthalmic  Record,  November,  1906,  p.  7. 


94  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

J.  H.  Claiborne's  description  of  his  own  school 
days: 

"I  now  know  I  have  always  carried  about  1.50 
diopters  of  hypermetropia;  in  my  very  early  days, 
possibly  more.  Books  and  school  were  to  me  a 
nightmare,  a  source  of  unutterable  disgust.  I 
drove  myself  to  my  tasks  with  the  scourge  of 
duty;  I  never  took  one  moment's  joy  or  pleasure 
in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  unless  it  was  the 
satisfaction  of  a  task  accomplished  or  conquest 
gained.  I  have  no  memory  of  a  sense  of  pleasure 
connected  with  my  studies  at  school  or  college. 
The  only  pleasant  memories  I  have  of  these  pe- 
riods of  my  life  are  those  connected  with  out- 
door sports,  or  facts  gained  through  observation, 
or  in  the  lecture-room  through  my  ears;  and  from 
my  boyhood  I  could  never  understand  why  we 
were  forced  to  read  from  books  all  that  we  learned. 

"Early  in  life  I  pondered  over  the  easiness  of 
the  task  of  those  who  never  sat  at  the  feet  but 
who  followed  the  tracks  of  the  peripatetic  philoso- 
phers. Verily,  my  school  and  college  days  would 
have  been  a  joy  to  me  had  my  ears  and  my  dis- 
tant vision  been  my  means  of  acquiring  knowledge. 
And  yet  I  never  had  a  headache  in  my  life  at 
school  nor  in  after  years  until  the  commencement 
of  presbyopia.  I  was  nervous  to  the  point  of  mad- 
ness at  times,  and  the  more  nervous  I  was  the 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  95 

more  diligent  I  became,  and  the  nearer  I  put  my 
nose  to  my  book.  I  have  frequently  observed 
that  my  right  eye  was  crossed  after  prolonged 
study,  or  after  a  long,  written  examination;  this 
was  also  at  times  observed  in  my  case  by  a  fel- 
low-student. That  the  difficulty  lay  in  my  hyper- 
metropia  I  have  no  manner  of  doubt.  I  had  in- 
herited a  love  of  learning,  I  felt  sure,  and  I  had 
a  right  to  the  assurance,  and  my  hatred  of  close 
application  was  a  mystery  to  me.  I  created  a 
frown  by  my  accommodative  strain,  which  has 
ever  been  a  part  of  me.  Prolonged  application  to 
books  would  be  followed  often  by  sleeplessness  or 
violence  in  the  field  at  play.  I  learned  for  these 
reasons  the  art  of  complete  concentration,  but  at 
what  an  expense  of  nervous  energy!"  l 

A  special  committee  appointed  by  the  Chicago 
Board  of  Education  to  secure  information  concern- 
ing under-fed  children  found  that  "five  thousand 
children  who  attend  the  schools  of  Chicago  are 
habitually  hungry.  They  often  go  to  school  break- 
fastless,  and  at  times  go  to  bed  hungry.  As  a 
result  of  being  under-fed  and  living  in  unsanitary 
homes,  they  have  become  victims  of  malnutrition 
— which  creates  subnormal  children.  The  lack  of 
a  square  deal  and  a  square  meal  at  home  often 

1  Reprint  from  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association, 
December  10,  1904,  pp.  15-16. 


96  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

presents  the  pathetic  sequel  of  the  child  who  is 
backward  at  study  and  forward  in  delinquency."  l 
From  the  canvass  made  by  truant  officers,  social 
settlements,  and  charity  organizations  the  com- 
mittee estimates  that  fifteen  thousand  school  chil- 
dren do  not  receive  three  square  meals  a  day.  Ob- 
servation of  the  children  in  a  few  schools  in  which 
they  were  fed  showed  improvement  in  attendance 
and  study.  "It  has  checked  demotion  and  in- 
creased promotion  in  the  grades.  .  .  .  Several  of 
those  who  were  backward  and  required  two  years 
to  do  the  work  of  one  grade  were  promoted  in 
eight  months,  and  most  of  them  required  the  usual 
one  year's  time  to  complete  the  work  of  a  grade."  2 
In  the  Chicago  Parental  School,  where  pains- 
taking examinations  of  the  mental  and  physical 
condition  of  the  inmates  have  been  made,  the  ner- 
vous system  of  the  boys  when  committed  exhibits 
less  precision  in  hand  movements,  is  slower  to  re- 
act, and  is  not  so  well  equipped  with  sense  impres- 
sions in  comparison  with  the  average  public-school 
boy.3  That  this  is  due  to  the  food  which  they 
have  eaten  and  to  the  life  led,  together  with  lack 
of  medical  supervision,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
at  the  time  of  parole  "the  physical  and  nervous 

1 "  Report  on  Under-fed  Children."    Reprinted  from  the  minutes  of 
the  Chicago  Board  of  Education,  1908,  p.  4. 
*0p.cit.,  pp.  5,  II. 
1  "Report  of  the  Chicago  Parental  School,  1907,"  p.  16. 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  97 

condition  of  the  boys  has  so  improved  that  they 
are,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  equal  to,  and,  in 
many  cases,  superior  to,  the  public-school  boys  in 
physical  condition."  1 

The  effect  of  the  environment  upon  the  indi- 
vidual is  our  present  theme.  The  physical  defects 
and  hunger  response  which  we  have  been  consider- 
ing are  features  of  the  environment  because  they 
are  caused  by  parental  and  social  ignorance,  and 
also  for  the  reason  that  environment,  in  a  large 
sense,  includes  all  the  uninherited  forces  playing 
upon  the  child.  Physical  defects  have  been  found 
to  exert  a  powerful  and  treacherous  influence  on 
actions. 

Adaptation  is  forced  upon  the  lower  animals  by 
the  demands  of  survival.  Notwithstanding  the 
occasional  mutual  aid  to  which  Kropotkin  2  has 
called  attention,  the  destruction  of  the  inefficient 
is  nature's  law.  Man  has  ameliorated  its  severity 
among  his  fellows,  but  in  so  doing  he  has  merely 
modified  it  so  far  as  survival  is  concerned.  The 
lives  of  the  physically  and  mentally  weak  are  pro- 
longed, but  the  struggle  is  only  postponed  till 
maturity.  In  cases  where  great  wealth  permits 
the  continued  survival  of  the  inefficient,  they  con- 
tinue socially  unfit,  and  the  struggle  becomes  more 
severe  for  others  in  proportion  to  the  wealth  de- 

1  Op.  cit.,  p.  21.  2  "Mutual  Aid  Among  Animals." 


98  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

voted  to  the  maintenance  and  luxury  of  these  in- 
capables. 

Because  of  the  tremendous  influence  of  emotions, 
adaptation  is  certainly  no  less  forceful  in  human 
society  than  among  the  lower  animals.  The  club- 
man must  keep  the  pace  of  his  companions  or  drop 
out  of  their  class.  The  extent  to  which  homes  are 
being  mortgaged  for  the  purchase  of  automobiles 
is  coming  to  be  regarded  as  a  national  menace. 
In  one  city  of  hardly  more  than  one  hundred  and 
ten  thousand  inhabitants,  it  is  a  matter  of  record 
that  two  thousand  four  hundred  men  mortgaged 
their  homes  for  this  purpose.  The  conclusion  is 
inevitable  that  in  most  of  these  cases  the  deter- 
mining force  was  the  desire  of  families  to  preserve 
their  adaptation  to  the  group  with  which  they 
had  been  associated.  The  same  principle  of  adap- 
tation was  illustrated  in  the  actions  of  the  citizens 
of  Cairo,  Illinois,  after  the  acquittal  of  the  men 
charged  with  being  members  of  the  mob  which 
attacked  the  jail  in  an  effort  to  lynch  the  negro 
Pratt.1  The  parade  and  celebration  with  fireworks 
were  in  no  sense  an  expression  of  belief  in  the  inno- 
cence of  the  acquitted  men,  but  were  rather  mani- 
festations of  joy  over  the  fact  that  no  one  had  been 
discovered  and  convicted.  One  cannot  escape  the 
conviction  that  many  of  the  citizens  who  engaged 

1  See  Saint  Louis  Republic,  July  23,  1910. 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  99 

in  that  celebration  would  have  been  quite  respec- 
table men  had  they  lived  in  a  community  where 
their  associates  believed  in  law  and  order  instead 
of  in  riots  and  lynching. 

Street  boys  have  their  code  of  conduct,  and  the 
urchin  who  fails  to  live  up  to  it  might  better  drop 
out  of  life  than  continue  to  live  among  his  com- 
panions. Ridicule  is  the  only  treatment  he  will 
receive,  and  this  is  the  one  thing  which  boys  can- 
not endure. 

Standing  for  the  right,  regardless  of  what  one's 
associates  may  say  or  do,  is  the  ethical  attitude,  but 
to  expect  a  boy  to  do  so  against  the  resistance  of 
his  whole  environment,  at  an  age  when  ideals  of 
conduct  have  not  yet  been  settled  into  fixed  prin- 
ciples of  action,  and  when  the  censure  and  ridicule 
of  associates  are  so  keenly  felt  as  to  lead  at  times 
to  suicide,  is  asking  too  much.  When  children  suc- 
ceed in  taking  this  stand  it  is  because  of  strong 
inherited  traits,  or  on  account  of  the  inspiration  of 
family  or  friend.  In  the  former  case  it  is  an  indi- 
vidual characteristic,  and  in  the  latter  it  is  only  a 
stronger  element  in  the  environment  overcoming 
the  weaker.  The  first  is  exceptional  and  the  sec- 
ond quite  as  truly  an  illustration  of  adaptation  as 
it  would  be  if  the  boy  yielded  to  the  code  of  his 
playmates. 

Among  animals  low  in  the  scale,  adaptations 


100  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

are  decided  almost  wholly  by  instinct.  Bees  feed 
so  unvaryingly  upon  certain  species  of  flowers  that 
the  flavor  of  their  honey  may  be  predicted  in  ad- 
vance. Higher  up  some  plasticity  is  observed, 
and  with  it  a  greater  capacity  to  assume  new  adap- 
tations, though  the  rigidity  of  instinct  is  still  domi- 
nant. Deer  wander  widely  in  the  late  summer 
seeking  food,  and  they  are  less  timid  during  the 
closed  season,  but  they  do  not  depart  far  enough 
from  their  instinctive  tendencies  to  endanger  by 
rashness  the  existence  of  the  species.  If  the  en- 
vironment gradually  alters,  favorable  variations 
enable  the  best  representatives  in  each  generation 
to  cope  with  the  new  conditions,  and  in  acquiring 
this  power  they  undergo  certain  adaptive  changes, 
but  always  in  obedience  to  the  demand  of  the 
one  end  which  in  nature  is  paramount — survival. 
Failing  to  meet  nature's  requirements,  they  die. 

Variation  is  an  organic  response  to  new  con- 
ditions. Even  in  sudden,  sporadic  alterations — 
mutations — the  conservation  of  the  new  creation 
requires  a  favorable  environment.  Stimulating 
surroundings  are  always  necessary  either  to  pro- 
duce a  variation  or  to  select  for  survival  one  that 
has  appeared  suddenly.  If  the  conditions  are  unfa- 
vorable to  variations  they  will  not  occur  unless  as 
mutations,  and  should  one  be  produced  in  this 
manner  it  will  be  lost.  Among  plants  and  the  lower 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  101 

animals  these  creative  alterations  are  left  to  un- 
intelligent nature,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
man,  in  rearing  human  beings,  has  shown  less  un- 
derstanding of  his  problem  than  nature  has  of 
hers.  For  with  the  lower  animals  only  one  re- 
quirement, prevails.  If  this  demand  is  met,  the 
species  has  learned  its  lesson,  and  the  reward  is  life. 
With  man,  however,  the  test  of  survival  is  no 
longer  brute  strength  or  mere  cunning,  but  intelli- 
gence and  ethical  conduct,  concerning  which  nature 
is  a  poor  judge.  Yet  a  large  number  of  children 
are  allowed  to  grow  up  in  whatever  place  of  filth 
and  crime  they  may  chance  to  be  born,  and  to  these 
conditions  they  adapt  themselves  according  to 
nature's  law.  Slums  are  society's  factory  for  the 
manufacture  of  criminals.  No  adequate  plans  are 
made  to  produce  intellectual  and  ethical  variations 
of  a  higher  type  suited  to  promote  social  progress. 
The  one  plan  systematically  carried  out  by  society, 
aside  from  sporadic  efforts  of  individual  organiza- 
tions, is  compulsory  education.  As  though  a  few 
hours  each  day  in  the  school-room  could  produce 
desirable  human  variations  against  the  resistance 
of  an  otherwise  degrading,  if  not  criminal,  envi- 
ronment! Nature  herself  shows  more  intelligence, 
since  she  constantly  surrounds  the  young  intrusted 
to  her  care  with  an  environment  suited  to  her 
purposes. 


102  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

We  must  not  forget  that  "fitness"  is  a  relative 
state,  the  character  and  value  of  which  are  de- 
termined by  the  environment.  It  is  not  a  merito- 
rious quality  of  standard  excellence  fixed  for  all 
times  and  all  ages.  We  admit  this  when  we  say 
that  a  given  man  is  ahead  of  his  age,  an  idealist 
whose  plans,  perhaps,  will  work  well  some  day,  but 
not  now,  or  when  we  agree  that  business  success 
requires  a  certain  conformity  to  prevailing  busi- 
ness methods;  but  we  deny  it  when  we  insist  that 
boys  of  the  slums  should  lead  an  ethical,  moral  life 
wholly  at  variance  with  the  example  of  their  par- 
ents and  the  conduct  of  their  associates.  This, 
however,  only  illustrates  the  working  of  the  won- 
derful power  of  reason  which  distinguishes  man 
from  the  lower  animals  and  enables  him  to  prove 
conclusively  that  what  he  wishes  to  do  is  right  and 
what  he  does  not  wish  others  to  do  is  wrong. 

The  adult  has  lived  through  experiences  which 
have  taught  him  the  effect  upon  himself  as  well  as 
upon  others  of  anti-social  acts.  He  has,  therefore, 
acquired  ideals  of  conduct  resting,  in  part,  upon 
ethical  and,  again,  upon  selfish  motives,  but  all,  it 
may  be,  of  moral  intent.  For  that  reason  the  envi- 
ronment is  a  very  different  problem  with  him  from 
what  it  is  with  children,  whose  ideals  are  still  in 
the  making  and  who,  without  the  foundation  of  ex- 
perience, do  not  know  to  what  their  actions  lead. 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  103 

Children's  courts,  which  to-day  are  so  prominent 
a  feature  of  reform,  are  based  upon  the  belief  that 
the  surroundings  create  the  ideals  of  the  young 
and  train  them  in  habits  of  conduct  for  which  they 
should  not  otherwise  be  held  responsible.  They 
do  not  have  the  standards  of  judgment  which  in 
the  adult  serve  as  criteria  of  action.  To  say  that 
the  mind  grows  to  the  modes  in  which  it  is  exercised 
is  only  another  way  of  saying  that  it  adapts  itself 
to  its  environment. 

If  we  ask  for  proof  of  the  irresistible  effect  upon 
children  of  the  environment  in  which  they  live, 
we  need  but  to  observe  the  change  that  follows 
improvement  in  even  a  few  of  the  conditions  of 
life.  The  New  York  City  police  captains,  several 
years  ago,  told  the  committee  on  small  parks  that 
they  had  no  trouble  with  boys  who  live  in  the 
neighborhood  of  playgrounds  and  parks.  Here 
the  spirit  of  adventure  finds  free  vent  without  the 
explosions  that  smash  street  lamps,  windows,  and 
heads.  In  Chicago,  the  South  Side,  after  fwo 
years  of  their  system  of  small  parks,  "showed  a 
decrease  in  delinquency  of  seventeen  per  cent,  rel- 
ative to  the  delinquency  of  the  whole  city,  while 
the  rest  of  the  city  had  increased  its  delinquency 
twelve  per  cent,  a  showing  in  favor  of  the  South 
Side  of  a  difference  of  twenty-nine  per  cent,  upon 
the  supposition  that  without  the  small  parks  the 


104  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

South  Side  would  have  continued  to  furnish  its  due 
quota  of  court  wards  as  compared  with  the  rest 
of  the  city."  *  If  we  consider  three  districts  in 
the  South  Side  which  are  better  equipped  with 
playgrounds  and  apparatus  than  the  other  por- 
tions of  that  section,  we  find  that  two  of  them 
which  had  a  rapid  increase  in  population  during 
the  period  under  consideration  showed  a  decrease 
in  delinquency  of  twenty-eight  and  thirty-three 
per  cent  respectively,  while  the  delinquency  of  the 
third,  in  which  the  population  remained  more 
nearly  uniform,  decreased  seventy  per  cent.  And 
this  decrease  occurred  at  a  time  when  the  delin- 
quency of  the  entire  city  increased  eleven  per 
cent.2 

In  Saint  Louis,  again,  the  police  reports  have 
shown  a  decrease  of  fifty  per  cent  in  juvenile 
crime  in  the  neighborhood  of  playgrounds  during 
the  summer  months  when  they  were  open.3 

The  significance  of  this  becomes  even  more 
striking  when  we  learn  further  that  in  Saint 
Louis  one  boy  out  of  about  every  thirty  between 
the  ages  of  eight  and  sixteen  is  arrested  each  year, 
and  one  out  of  every  fifty  is  brought  before  the 

1  Allen  Burns,  reprint  from  the  "Proceedings  of  the  Second  Annual 
Playground  Congress,"  p.  II. 

2  Loc.  cit.,  p.  n. 

*  "  Report  of  the  Open-Air  Playground  Committee,  Civic  League, 
1903,"  p.  6. 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  105 

I 
juvenile   court.1     Further,    the   president   of  the 

Saint  Louis  Board  of  Police  Commissioners  said, 
in  testifying  before  the  State  Legisjature  in  1903, 
that  "the  great  majority,  probably  ninety  per 
cent,  of  the  habitual  or  chronic  criminals  are  per- 
sons who  have  committed  their  first  offence  against 
the  laws  when  children  under  the  age  of  sixteen."  2 

The  Brotherhood  Welfare  Association  of  Saint 
Louis  recently  opened  a  gymnasium  for  boys  on 
South  Third  Street,  near  the  levee.  It  is  a 
wretchedly  unattractive,  gloomy  place  with  a  few 
pieces  of  worn-out  apparatus.  Yet  this  gymna- 
sium draws  boys  from  a  distance  of  fifteen  blocks 
on  the  west  and  about  ten  blocks  north  and  south. 
The  boys  awaken  the  keeper  in  the  morning  to 
gain  admission.  They  spend  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  there  at  noon  and  hurry  back  after  school. 
At  night  they  will  not  leave  until  they  are  driven 
out.  Before  the  establishment  of  this  gymnasium, 
the  boys  of  that  region  entertained  themselves  by 
breaking  windows  and  in  various  other  escapades 
which  often  ended  in  the  juvenile  court.  Now, 
as  the  police  officer  on  this  beat  says,  all  this  is 
ended.  The  boys  of  that  district  are  as  well  be- 
haved as  in  other  more  orderly  parts  of  the  city. 

The  following  table  pictures  the  effect  of  a  play- 

1  "  Report  of  the  Juvenile  Court,  1908,"  p.  18. 

2  "  Report  of  the  Open-Air  Playground  Committee  of  the  Civic 
League,  1903,"  p.  6. 


106 


YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 


ground  on  tardiness  in  a  Milwaukee  school.  A 
vacant  half-block  adjoining  the  smaller  playground 
of  the  school  gives  the  children  space  enough  to 
express  their  feelings.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
there  are  197  cases  of  tardiness  during  four  months 
in  this  school  of  850  children  against  842  and 
i, 1 06,  respectively,  for  the  same  period  in  two 
other  schools  containing  only  600  pupils,  but  with- 
out playgrounds. 


1 

•ARDDJE 

ss 

SEPT. 

OCT. 

NOV. 

DEC. 

TOTALS 

Equipped 
playground 

6th  Dist.  School, 
8lo  ouoils 

4.1 

70 

4-1 

^6 

107 

No  play- 
ground 

3d  Dist.  School, 
600  pupils  

14.8 

216 

I08 

28O 

84.2 

No  play- 
ground 

4th  Dist.  School, 
600  pupils  

2O7 

204- 

221 

•?84 

1,106 

But  the  success  of  playgrounds  opens  a  much 
larger  question.  If  so  small  a  change  in  the  life 
of  a  boy  as  opportunity  to  play  brings  such  re- 
sults as  the  figures  which  we  have  cited  indicate, 
is  not  society  committing  an  inexcusable  blunder 
in  failing  to  organize  for  the  abolition  of  slums? 
It  would  seem  as  though  one  portion  of  cities 
were  set  apart  for  the  training  of  criminals.  The 
case,  however,  is  not  closed  with  the  evidence  of 
playgrounds. 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  107 

In  Chicago,  according  to  the  superintendent  of 
the  Parental  School,  from  eighty-two  to  ninety 
per  cent  of  truancy  is  caused  by  unfavorable  home 
conditions.1  Truancy  in  that  city  has  been  found 
to  be  between  three  and  four  times  as  frequent, 
proportionately,  among  the  children  of  those  who 
live  in  the  congested  districts  as  among  children 
of  foreigners  in  other  parts  of  the  city.2  That 
the  lack  of  zeal  of  these  children  for  education 
is  not  caused  by  stupidity  is  apparent  from  their 
progress  when  they  have  a  chance.  Eighty-two 
per  cent  of  the  boys  in  the  Parental  School  show 
as  good  ability  as  other  boys,  and  after  the  young- 
sters leave  the  institution,  eighty  per  cent  main- 
tain a  record  of  efficiency.3  "We  are  firmly  con- 
vinced," says  the  report,  "that  very  few  of  our 
boys  (not  more  than  ten  per  cent — perhaps  only 
about  five  per  cent)  would  go  wrong  if  placed  in 
favorable  conditions  where  they  would  get  plenty 
of  good  food,  proper  care,  discipline  and  training, 
and  a  fair  chance  to  become  decent  citizens.  This 
is  clearly  proved  by  the  change  which  comes  over 
these  boys  during  their  short  stay  at  the  Parental 
School,  and  the  lapses  of  the  other  twenty  per 
cent  who  go  wrong  after  leaving  us  are  due,  in 
large  measure,  to  the  baneful  influences  which 

1  "  Report  of  the  Chicago  Parental  School,"  1902,  p.  36;  1904, 
p.  49. 

*  Ibid.,  1906,  p.  19.  *  Ibid.,  1904,  p.  46. 


108  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

they  encounter  after  parole — not  to  natural,  in- 
herited, inherent  meanness  or  depravity."  1 

An  instructive  bit  of  information  comes  from 
the  Boston  Parental  School.  Some  of  the  boys 
who  were  committed  for  truancy  ran  away  just 
before  their  credits  for  behavior  and  attention  to 
their  studies  warranted  dismissal.  When  ques- 
tioned, they  admitted  that  they  ran  away  so  as 
to  lose  their  credits  and  be  retained  in  the  insti- 
tution, instead  of  being  sent  back  to  the  public 
schools.  The  teachers  make  the  difference. 

When  we  examine  the  condition  of  boys  who 
have  gone  beyond  truancy  and  have  started  upon 
the  criminal  career,  the  same  influence  of  environ- 
ment is  observed. 

Examination  of  the  records  of  293  boys  in  the 
Indiana  Boys'  (Reform)  School  discloses  the  fact 
that  the  associates  of  176  were  clearly  bad.  In 
only  19  cases  could  they  be  called  good.  The 
remainder  were  fair.2  The  Illinois  State  Reform- 
atory has  reported  on  500  inmates  during  two 
years.  Of  these  boys  only  27  were  found  to  have 
had  good  associates.3  In  the  Elmira  Reformatory, 
again,  the  same  condition  is  demonstrable.  Here 
the  officers  have  kept  a  biographical  history  of  the 
inmates  for  a  period  of  years.  These  records  show 

1  Ibid.,  1905,  pp.  40-41. 

2  "  Forty-third  Annual  Report,  1909,"  p.  36. 
'"Tenth  Biennial  Report,  1908-1910,"  pp.  90,  112. 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  109 

that  the  associates  of  94  per  cent  of  19,810  pris- 
oners were  either  bad  or  doubtful,  and  those  of 
only  6  per  cent  were  good.1 

When  we  consider  these  same  boys  from  the 
point  of  view  of  their  ability,  we  again  find  corrob- 
orative evidence  of  the  influence  of  environment 
in  pulling  them  down.  Two  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  of  the  293  boys  in  the  Indiana  Boys'  (Reform) 
School  had  ability  which  was  either  fair  or  "ac- 
tive," while  only  8  were  doubtful.2  In  the  Illi- 
nois State  Reformatory,  353  of  the  500  boys  in- 
cluded in  the  last  report  were  of  average  ability, 
or  above  the  average,  and  only  147  were  below 
the  average.3  The  Elmira  report  for  1910  does 
not  classify  the  prisoners  on  the  basis  of  mental 
ability,  but  an  earlier  investigation  of  17,675  young 
men  who  had  been  in  the  institution  shows  that 
97  per  cent  had  ability  rated  as  fair,  good,  or  ex- 
cellent, and  only  3  per  cent  fell  below  the  average.4 
Fifty-three  per  cent  of  the  19,810  young  men  re- 
ferred to  in  the  last  report  of  the  Elmira  Reforma- 
tory had  never  been  to  school,  or  could  barely  read 
and  write.  Only  4  per  cent  had  entered  the  high 
school.  The  remainder  had  received  a  common- 
school  education.5 

1  "Thirty-fifth  Annual  Report,  1910,"  p.  58.       *  Loc.  cit.,  p.  36. 
'"Tenth  Biennial  Report,  1908-1910,"  pp.  90,  112. 
4  "  Thirty-third  Annual  Report,"  1908,  p.  85. 
6  "Thirty-fifth  Annual  Report,  1910,"  p.  57. 


110  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

It  would  seem  as  though  society  were  conduct- 
ing a  scientific  experiment  on  a  large  scale  in  try- 
ing to  ascertain  how  bad  its  children  may  be  made 
and  still  be  reformed,  just  as  the  poison  squad  of 
the  Pure  Food  Commission  has  been  used  to  learn 
how  dangerous  certain  chemicals  are  in  food. 

I  am  aware  that  all  this  tendency  to  criminal- 
ity may  be  charged  to  the  account  of  ancestral 
inheritance.  Heredity  has  always  been  a  comfort- 
able cushion  upon  which  those  who  chanced  to 
be  born  in  happy  surroundings  have  reclined,  while 
they  moralized  upon  the  inherited  taint  of  the  less 
fortunate.  Family  pride  gives  such  an  agreeable 
feeling  of  superiority  that  men  forget  the  occa- 
sions when  social  influence  saved  them,  in  boy- 
hood, from  arrest. 

No  intelligent  person  thinks  that  men  are  born 
equal  in  mental  capacity  or  that  the  outlook  for 
moral  growth  gives  the  same  clear  view  of  the 
future  in  different  children.  The  present  writer 
frankly  accepts  the  belief  that  the  quality  of  gray 
matter  which  makes  the  career  of  a  genius  pos- 
sible is  not  produced  during  the  lifetime  of  a 
single  individual.  Heredity  is  a  tremendous  social 
force.  After  admitting  all  this,  however,  the  vital 
problem  is  still  untouched.  The  practical  ques- 
tion is  not  what  is  inherited,  but  rather  what  can 
be  realized.  Will  the  brain  tissue  be  utilized  to 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  111 

its  fullest  capacity?  Will  the  "born  genius"  al- 
ways reveal  his  power?  Or,  to  ask  a  still  more 
practical  question,  will  the  average  boy  and  girl 
actualize  his  or  her  possibilities? 

Every  one,  doubtless,  will  admit  that  the  genius 
is  much  more  likely  than  the  average  boy  to  come 
into  his  own,  regardless  of  adverse  surroundings. 
Yet,  even  among  these  men  there  is  a  suggestive 
grouping  in  time  and  place.  "The  stimulating 
influence  of  great  historical  events,  calling  out  la- 
tent intellectual  energy,"  in  the  opinion  of  Have- 
lock  Ellis,  plays  its  part  in  producing  geniuses.1 
Cattell,  again,  as  a  result  of  his  exhaustive  study 
of  American  men  of  science,  comes  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  "the  inequality  in  the  production  of 
scientific  men  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
seems  to  be  a  forcible  argument  against  the  views 
of  Dr.  Galton  and  Professor  Pearson  that  scien- 
tific performance  is  almost  exclusively  due  to  he- 
redity. It  is  unlikely  that  there  are  such  differ- 
ences in  family  stocks  as  would  lead  one  part  of 
the  country  to  produce  a  hundred  times  as  many 
scientific  men  as  other  parts."  2 

Odin,  who  made  a  careful  investigation  of  the 
conditions  operating  in  the  production  of  men  of 
letters,  found  that  in  France  the  towns  which  were 
especially  prolific  in  eminent  literary  men  differed 

1  "A  Study  of  British  Genius,"  p.  15.     *  Science,  vol.  24,  p.  734. 


112  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

from  other  places  "less  by  their  size  than  by  a 
group  of  characteristics  the  chief  of  which  seem 
to  be  the  following": 

1.  "Usually  these  cities  have  been  centres  of 
administration,  political,  ecclesiastical,  or  judiciary. 
This  confirms  what  we  have  previously  stated  with 
regard  to  the  influence  exercised  by  the  political 
and  administrative  surroundings. 

2.  "These  cities  have  furnished  numerous  op- 
portunities for  cultivating    the    acquaintance    of 
people  of  culture  and  intelligence,  because  of  the 
presence  of  writers,  of  savants,  of  numerous  dis- 
tinguished artists,  of  learned  clergymen,  and  of  a 
wealthy  nobility  devoted  to  letters. 

3.  "These  cities  have  afforded  important  public 
intellectual  resources,  such  as  superior  educational 
institutions,  libraries,    museums,    and    publishing 
houses. 

4.  "Finally,  they  contained,  in  comparison  with 
other  cities,  a  greater  amount  of  wealth,  or,  at 
least,  a  larger  proportion  of  wealthy  or  well-to-do 
families."  1 

"Everything,  therefore,"  continues  Odin  a  little 
later,  "forces  us  to  admit  that  education  plays 
not  only  an  important  role  in  the  production  of 
men  of  letters,  but  one  that  is  vital  and  decisive. 

1  "Genese  des  Grands  Hommes,"  par  Alfred  Odin,  vol.  I,  pp.  511- 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  113 

It  acts  not  alone  upon  those  of  moderate  ability, 
but  also,  and  with  quite  as  great  intensity,  upon 
talent  and  genius."  l 

In  order  to  test  this  principle  still  further,  Odin 
investigated  the  early  environment  of  264  emi- 
nent literary  men  of  other  countries.  "The  fig- 
ures," he  then  tells  us,  "are  almost  identical  with 
those  that  were  obtained  for  eminent  men  of  let- 
ters in  France.  From  a  total  of  236  men  of  gen- 
ius whose  early  educational  environment  we  know 
pretty  accurately,  not  less  than  230,  or  97  per  cent, 
had  an  opportunity  during  their  youth  to  come 
into  contact  with  a  favorable  educational  envi- 
ronment. Even  if  we  were  to  class  all  the  cases 
(the  28  omitted  above)  in  which  the  surroundings 
are  unknown  or  doubtful,  under  the  head  of  poor 
educational  environment,  and  that  surely  would 
not  correspond  with  the  facts,  there  still  remains 
more  than  87  per  cent  of  cases  in  which  the  edu- 
cational environment  was  favorable."  2  And  again, 
in  the  earnestness  of  his  conviction,  Odin  exclaims, 
"We  must  reverse  the  accepted  view.  Genius  is 
in  things  and  not  in  man."  3 

Galton  himself,  the  apostle,  with  Karl  Pearson, 
of  heredity  says  in  this  connection:  "I  acknowl- 
edge freely  the  great  power  of  education  and  so- 
cial influences  in  developing  the  active  powers  of 

1  Op.  cit.,  p.  527.        2  Op.  cit.,  pp.  604-605.        *  Op.  cit.,  p.  560. 


114  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

the  mind,  just  as  I  acknowledge  the  effect  of  use 
in  developing  the  muscles  of  a  blacksmith's  arm, 
and  no  further."  1 

No  one  could  ask  Mr.  Galton  to  go  further. 
He  has  acknowledged  all  that  the  advocates  of 
the  influence  of  environment  claim.  It  has  never 
been  asserted,  so  far  at  least  as  the  writer  is  aware, 
that  environment  puts  brains  into  people. 

Dr.  F.  A.  Woods,  on  the  other  hand,  argues 
strongly  for  heredity.  His  argument,  however,  is 
not  thoroughly  convincing,  especially  when  we 
find  him  distinguishing,  in  respect  to  environmen- 
tal influence,  between  "imposed  and  unescapable 
conditions,  which  change  with  the  course  of  his- 
tory and  affect  entire  races  or  great  groups  of 
people,"  and  "the  class  of  environments  that  exist 
within  any  one  age  and  in  any  one  state  of  civili- 
zation." 2 

We  have  introduced  this  brief  survey  of  a  few 
of  the  chief  investigations  on  the  production  of 
men  of  genius  because  of  its  bearing  upon  the  in- 
fluence of  environment.  The  facts  seem  to  show 
that  "nurture"  exercises  a  decisive  and  probably 
determining  influence  upon  the  ability  with  which 
one  may  be  endowed  at  birth. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  delinquent  boys  and 

1  "Hereditary  Genius,"  p.  14. 

3  Popular  Science  Monthly,  vol.  76,  p.  336. 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  115 

learn  the  effect  upon  them  of  a  new  environ- 
ment. 

Under  such  meagre  inspiration  as  a  reformatory 
can  offer,  from  seventy-five  to  over  eighty  per 
cent  of  those  released  from  the  Elmira  Reforma- 
tory became  honest  citizens.1 

The  Lyman  (Massachusetts)  Reform  School  re- 
ports that  "the  total  percentage  of  boys  who  be- 
came twenty-one  years  of  age  this  year,  and  who 
are  living  in  the  community  much  as  others  who 
have  never  been  in  the  Lyman  School,"  is  esti- 
mated at  about  8o.2  From  the  New  York  Parental 
School,  again,  85  per  cent  are  said  to  "  make  good." 3 

Superintendent  Darnall,  of  the  Washington  Na- 
tional Training  School  for  Boys,  says  that  about 
80  per  cent  of  the  white  boys  "make  good."  The 
same  percentage  of  the  Michigan  Industrial  School 
"make  law-abiding,  self-respecting  citizens,"  ac- 
cording to  Superintendent  Lawson. 

In  Illinois  the  board  of  managers  of  the  Pon- 
tiac  State  Reformatory  made  a  thorough  investi- 
gation of  the  record  of  780  boys  paroled  to  Chicago 
between  July,  1901,  and  January,  1906,  and  found 
that  over  83  per  cent  did  not  become  violators  of  the 
law  after  their  release.4  "It  is  safe  to  assert,"  the 

1  See  various  reports  of  the  institution. 
*"  Sixteenth  Annual  Report,  1911,"  p.  36. 
1  Letter  from  the  principal. 
*  "Eighth  Biennial  Report,  1906,"  p.  30. 


116  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

report  concludes,  "that  the  percentage  of  recla- 
mations will  not  be  lower  in  any  portion  of  the 
United  States  than  in  Chicago,  with  the  peculiar 
temptations  to  vice  and  crime  which  have  hitherto 
existed." 

These  statistics,  which  the  author  is  convinced 
from  his  correspondence  with  superintendents 
could  be  duplicated  from  the  records  of  any  re- 
formatory conducted  according  to  modern  meth- 
ods, did  space  permit,  gain  their  strength  from  the 
fact  that  these  children  were  selected  by  the  street. 
They  came  of  the  sort  of  stock  whose  children  are 
allowed  to  obtain  most  of  their  education  from 
the  street.  All  of  the  parents  were  shiftless,  many 
were  drunkards,  and  not  a  few  of  the  mothers 
were  prostitutes.  According  to  the  advocates  of 
irresistible  heredity,  the  presumption  is  that  their 
heredity  was  bad.  Yet  the  number  of  reforma- 
tions is  amazingly  large. 

If  so  many  boys  who  have  been  branded  with 
the  prison  mark,  and  who  must  continually  work 
against  the  resistance  of  a  criminal's  name,  can 
be  reformed,  the  inference  seems  clear  that  a  large 
part  of  the  remaining  twenty  or  twenty-five  per 
cent  might  have  been  saved  had  the  change  of 
environment  come  earlier  in  their  career.  We  are 
proud  of  our  public  schools,  and  we  enjoy  calling 
them  the  bulwark  of  democracy,  but  we  demand 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  117 

more  than  any  system  of  education  can  accom- 
plish when  we  ask  it  to  make  good  citizens  out  of 
boys  whose  home  and  street  environment  is  in  di- 
rect opposition  to  the  teaching  of  the  school.  The 
compulsory-education  law  drags  unwilling  boys 
from  a  life  that  gratifies  their  longing  for  advent- 
ure to  work  which  has  no  meaning  to  them  on 
account  of  the  enormous  chasm  between  the  life 
of  an  educated  man  and  their  own.  The  educa- 
tional problem  and  the  industrial-social  problem 
are  one.  And  the  success  of  popular  government 
makes  its  solution  imperative. 

Though  mere  opinion  has  little  argumentative 
value,  still  the  feeling  of  confidence  in  the  de- 
linquent boy  which  one  finds  in  the  officers  of 
reformative  institutions  where  boys  are  trusted 
is  suggestive  in  this  connection.  Under  the  old 
system  of  suspicion  and  guards,  the  boys  respond 
with  similar  distrust.  But  in  the  Cleveland  Boys' 
Home,  where  responsibility  is  put  upon  the  boys, 
we  find  a  former  superintendent  saying,  "I  be- 
lieve that  any  boy  under  fourteen  can  readily  be 
changed  in  his  wrong  views  of  life  and  in  their 
resulting  conduct."  1  The  present  superintendent 
cites  one  instance  as  typical:  "The  boy  who  takes 
care  of  the  office,  and  is  around  where  things  could 
be  taken  without  really  fastening  the  guilt  upon 

1  Letter  from  former  Superintendent  McGilvrey. 


118  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

him,  had  been  in  court  seven  times  for  stealing 
before  we  received  him.  We  have  yet  to  find  any- 
thing missing  or  to  catch  him  in  a  lie."  1 

The  argument  for  environment  is  greatly 
strengthened  when  we  see  the  result  upon  adults 
in  whom  the  habits  of  shiftlessness  and  crimi- 
nality are  thought  to  be  firmly  established.  In 
1905  two  men  just  paroled  from  the  Cleveland 
House  of  Correction  rented  a  room  and  asked 
Director  Cooley  to  parole  two  of  their  acquaint- 
ances. "We  have  a  room  for  them  and  will 
grub-stake  them  for  a  week,  and  can  get  them  a 
job,"  2  they  said.  From  this  small  beginning  grew 
the  Brotherhood  Club,  which,  in  three  years,  re- 
ceived nearly  $14,0x30  for  board  and  lodging  from 
its  members.  By  1908  the  club  had  paid  for 
over  $2,000  worth  of  furniture  and,  during  that 
year,  $6,153.54  were  spent  in  caring  for  paroled 
men;  $4,646.07  of  this  was  later  paid  back  by 
these  same  men.  The  balance  came  out  of  the 
treasury  of  the  club.  With  the  exception  of 
$1,340,  which  was  contributed,  and  a  small  debt, 
the  entire  cost  was  borne  by  paroled  men.  "We 
have  found  that  many  men  who  are  regarded  as 
criminals  are  trustworthy  when  trusted,"  says 
Director  of  Public  Safety  Cooley.  "Some  of  the 

1  Letter  from  Superintendent  Laird. 

1  "Annual  Report  of  the  Brotherhood  Club,  1908." 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  119 

prisoners  who  give  the  most  trouble  under  the 
old  treatment  are  our  best  men  in  the  out-door 
method.  They  are  men  of  backbone,  who  resent 
ill-treatment  by  officious  guards.  They  are  stub- 
born in  punishment.  But  if  these  men  promise 
to  be  faithful,  they  will  stand  by  you.  .  .  .  Many 
men  who  are  regarded  as  unwilling  to  work  will 
develop  habits  of  industry  if  given  a  good  opportu- 
nity. The  regular  life  at  the  Correction  Farm  and 
the  work  in  the  fields  overcome  the  vagrancy 
tendency."  1 

Perhaps  the  most  startling  instance  of  readap- 
tation  to  a  new  environment  in  the  case  of  adults 
is  found  in  the  Colorado  State  Penitentiary.  Here 
the  men  leave  the  prison  and  work  on  the  con- 
struction of  new  roads.  But  let  us  allow  Warden 
Tynan  to  tell  the  story: 

"We  employ  these  men,  many  of  whom  are 
serving  life  terms  for  murder,  two  hundred  miles 
away  from  the  prison  proper.  The  men  are  housed 
in  tents  and  dug-outs  away  from  the  towns  near 
at  hand.  The  camps  are  guarded  only  to  keep 
away  the  tramps  and  prowlers  who  might  attack 
our  commissary  or  feed-rooms  or  carry  away  our 
effects.  For  a  long  time  the  only  man  who  had 
fire-arms  in  one  of  the  camps  was  a  long-time 
prisoner  who  patrolled  the  place  at  night  for  the 
above  reason. 

1  Extract  from  a  letter  from  Director  Cooley. 


120  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

"A  lifetime  man  drives  my  carriage  and  waits 
upon  my  family  with  perfect  trust.  The  life- 
time men  understand  that  the  fact  of  their  being 
trustworthy  and  honorable  will  hasten  the  end  of 
their  terms,  as  the  sentences  of  some  have  been 
commuted  and  others  will  be,  so  that  the  men 
may  go  on  parole.  We  endeavor  to  show  the 
prisoners  that  if  they  play  fair  with  us  we  will 
act  in  the  same  way  toward  them. 

"We  have  now  nearly  three  hundred  men  em- 
ployed away  from  the  walls  and  yet  in  eight 
months  past  we  have  lost  but  one  man  by  escape. 

"About  one  per  cent  of  the  men  employed  on 
their  'honor'  broke  faith  and  escaped  during  the 
past  two  years.  The  inmates  who  responded  to 
their  parole  contracts  and  maintained  a  good  char- 
acter after  leaving,  during  the  past  two  years  of 
my  incumbency,  have  been  about  eighty  per  cent, 
and  many  are  doing  quite  well.  Some  of  them 
are  succeeding  in  business. 

"So  you  see  that  I  have  found  many  men  whom 
society  has  condemned  and  the  courts  convicted 
worthy  of  the  most  perfect  trust."  l 

Whatever  may  be  said  about  the  common  people 
under  a  monarchy,  where  a  chosen  few  are  ap- 
pointed by  the  Almighty  to  do  the  thinking  for 
the  nation,  in  a  democracy  where  votes  count, 
and  the  success  and  welfare  of  society  depend  on 

1  Letter  from  Warden  Tynan. 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  121 

the  intelligence  and  character  of  its  citizens,  we 
cannot  afford  to  leave  the  training  of  boys  and 
girls  to  the  alleys  and  streets. 

The  success  of  playgrounds  and  reformatories 
of  the  better  sort  in  making  good  citizens  has 
a  profound  significance  which  society  blindly  ig- 
nores. It  shows  the  delicate  sensitiveness  of  chil- 
dren to  their  environment.  Character  depends 
upon  both  inherited  and  environmental  influences, 
and  the  conditions  of  life  which  surround  children 
may  favor  the  appearance  of  bad  hereditary  im- 
pulses, or,  on  the  other  hand,  may  prevent  them 
from  emerging.  Proof  of  this  is  seen  in  experi- 
ments on  lower  animals.  Nothing  is  more  firmly 
fixed  by  heredity  than  some  of  the  protective  in- 
stincts, and  yet,  as  Hodge  has  shown,  the  wild 
ruffed  grouse  of  the  partridge  family,  hatched 
under  barn-yard  fowls  are  as  tame  as  domestic 
chicks  if  their  surroundings  do  not  call  out  the 
inherited  timidity. 

Hereditary  tendencies  are  strongly  intrenched, 
and  blue-blood  stock  possesses  enough  bad  ones 
to  people  the  penitentiaries  were  conditions  left 
favorable  to  the  development  of  primitive  instincts. 
Fortunately  growth  of  character  does  not  require 
the  destruction  of  these  racial  instincts.  Relent- 
less courage  and  resistance  to  aggression  are  as 
valuable  assets  to-day  as  among  primitive  sav- 


122  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

ages  where  they  brought  bloodshed  and  torture. 
Social  progress,  however,  demands  that  these  im- 
pulses be  controlled  by  ethical  motives  so  that 
man  may  act  rationally  and  be  thoughtful  of  the 
larger  interests  of  human  society.  Children  are 
impulsive.  They  do  not  possess  the  principles  of 
conduct  which  control  action  in  the  mature.  Mo- 
rality is  a  matter  of  habit  long  before  it  is  a  rule 
of  action.  This  is  the  reason  for  the  importance 
of  environment.  But  philanthropic  man  is  more 
interested  in  building  reformatories  than  in  reor- 
ganizing society  to  eliminate  the  need  for  them. 
Reformatories  appeal  to  the  emotions  which  are 
usually  soothed  by  construction  of  buildings,  or 
with  the  accomplishment  of  some  reform  within 
the  institution.  The  nervous  social  neophyte  is 
thus  enabled  to  become  enthusiastic  over  many 
reforms  in  rapid  succession,  and  reforms,  like 
clothes,  are  stylish  for  a  day.  Social  reorganiza- 
tion, however,  reaches  a  long  distance  into  the 
future  and  requires  sustained  mental  effort — a 
condition  of  mind  which  has  never  been  popular. 
All  our  reformative  activities  illustrate  the  charm- 
ing inconsistency  of  man.  They  are  based  on  the 
assumption  that  the  will  has  decided  limitations 
which  prevent  it  from  overcoming  too  strong  op- 
position. Yet  according  to  the  popular  opinion 
man's  will  is  supreme. 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  123 

Much  of  the  confusion  in  which  society  finds 
itself  involved  comes  from  mistaken  ideas  about 
the  will.  The  opinion  still  prevails  among  many 
that  it  is  a  force  distinct  from  other  mental  proc- 
esses, which  decides  our  conduct  regardless  of 
motives  or  of  hereditary  and  environmental  in- 
fluences. According  to  this  view  the  will  is  a 
monarch  sitting  on  his  throne  and  continually  in- 
terrupting the  causal  relation  of  mental  processes 
by  determining  through  his  fiat  the  acts  which 
shall  be  performed,  regardless  of  the  nature  of  the 
individual.  But  those  who  hold  this  opinion  are 
not  uncritical  of  others  who  react  differently  to 
situations  essentially  the  same  to  unprejudiced 
observers.  This  inconsistency  of  the  critic  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  practical  judgment  is  often 
more  correct  than  the  theoretical.  The  criticism 
is  just.  A  person  who  does  not  always  act  in 
the  same  way  in  the  same  situation  would  have 
an  anarchistic  will.  Such  a  will  would  be  gov- 
erned by  no  laws,  and  if  a  man  were  unfortunate 
enough  to  be  so  constructed,  his  honesty  up  to 
the  present  day  would  be  no  proof  that  he  would 
not  steal  your  watch  to-morrow.  That  which 
constitutes  a  strong  character  is  consistency  in 
action,  so  long  as  all  of  the  conditions  remain  the 
same,  and  intelligence  reveals  itself  in  discrimi- 
native interpretation  of  differences  in  situations. 


124  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

The  same  situation,  however,  means  essentially 
identical  mental  and  external  relations.  The  outer 
conditions,  for  example,  may  remain  unaltered 
while  the  mental  conditions  vary.  That  is  to  say, 
the  ideas  of  the  man  may  have  changed  or  the 
emotional  effect  of  the  situation  may  be  different. 
Though  he  has  never  stolen  he  may  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  world  owes  him  a  living,  re- 
gardless of  his  willingness  to  work.  This  intro- 
duces a  new  condition  in  his  actions  and  he  may 
rob  you  if  he  has  a  chance.  If  the  will  were  not 
influenced  by  motives,  the  development  of  char- 
acter through  education  would  be  impossible.  Our 
whole  mind  is  will,  and,  like  all  mental  processes, 
it  is  concordant  to  psychological  laws.  Indeed, 
the  stronger  the  will  of  a  man  the  more  confidently 
do  we  predict  his  action.  We  know  that  to  him 
motives  of  honor  are  irresistible.  Hesitation  be- 
fore acting  signifies  that  the  decision  is  simultane- 
ously influenced  by  several  conflicting  motives.  If 
the  opposing  psychological  states  did  not  exist, 
there  would  be  no  hesitation.  When  a  man  finally 
decides,  it  means  that  one  of  the  various  lines 
of  action  has  won  ap'proval. 

Let  us  suppose  a  boy  to  deliberate  about  a  dis- 
honest act  which,  if  successfully  carried  through, 
will  yield  a  handsome  profit.  The  advantages  of 
the  transaction,  together  with  the  possible  con- 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  125 

sequences  of  discovery,  are  the  external  conflict- 
ing motives;  but  in  addition  to  these,  there  are 
the  mental  conditions — the  personality  acquired 
from  the  interaction  of  inherited  tendencies  and 
individual  experience  gained  through  social  and 
educational  influences — which  we  call  character. 
These  mental  relations  are  the  factors  over  which 
society  and  education  have  partial  control,  and 
for  which  they  are,  to  the  extent  of  that  control, 
responsible.  But  society  has  thrown  the  burden 
upon  the  schools,  forgetful  of  the  inconsistency  of 
arraying  two  opposing  social  forces,  the  slums  and 
the  schools,  against  one  another. 

The  success  of  philanthropic  organizations  and 
reformative  institutions  seems  to  justify  the  as- 
sertion of  those  who  maintain  that  criminals  are 
made  and  not  born.  While  admitting  the  influ- 
ence of  good  homes  we  cannot  consistently  deny 
the  effect  of  bad  surroundings.  The  decision  of 
a  boy  in  the  presence  of  temptation  will  largely 
depend  upon  the  ideals  of  life  which  have  been 
acquired  through  experience — the  stuff  out  of 
which  thoughts  are  made.  The  moral  purpose  in 
education  is  attained,  then,  by  accustoming  chil- 
dren to  ethical  habits  of  conduct  while  enriching 
their  minds  with  ideals  of  action  which  may  de- 
velop into  controlling  principles  of  life. 

Children  unconsciously  accept  the  views  of  life 


126  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

amid  which  they  live.  The  acts  in  which  they 
engage  are  the  things  to  do  because  they  are  per- 
formed by  those  whom  they  look  upon  as  examples 
for  emulation.  So  their  character  is  fixed  by  the 
establishment  of  habits  of  action.  It  is  not  strange 
that  those  who  live  in  the  slums  become  criminals. 
The  wonder  is  that  so  many  are  reclaimed,  and 
the  remarkable  success  of  the  newer  reformative 
methods  puts  the  responsibility  for  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  criminals  upon  the  society  which  allows 
conditions  that  train  for  delinquency  to  con- 
tinue. 

The  will-to-do-right  cannot  be  developed  by  a 
few  weeks'  course  in  mental  and  moral  gymnas- 
tics. It  is  a  matter  of  slow,  continuous  growth, 
and  when  once  fixed  can  rarely  be  more  than  su- 
perficially altered.  Character,  which  is  only  an- 
other name  for  the  established  will,  is  formed 
through  ideals  which  have  been  consciously  or  un- 
consciously accepted  as  governing  principles  of 
action.  And  these  ideals  can  become  fixed  only 
so  far  as  they  are  acted  upon.  For  this  reason 
moral  precepts  have  little  value  for  children  when 
the  instruction  is  at  variance  with  the  conduct  that 
surrounds  them.  When  society  learns  this  and 
organizes  to  preserve  children  from  immoral  sur- 
roundings, instead  of  giving  them  a  few  doses  of 
mental  and  moral  antitoxin  and  then  sending  them 


THE  CHANCE  TO  GROW  127 

back  to  dirty  alleys  and  streets,  criminality  will 
cease  to  be  so  perplexing  a  problem. 

The  schools,  on  the  other  hand,  cannot  ignore 
their  responsibility.  They  have  a  higher  func- 
tion than  merely  to  teach  the  three  R's.  One  of 
the  purposes  of  elementary  and  secondary  educa- 
tion is  to  train  children  in  such  activities  as  will 
organize  the  mental  processes  so  as  to  strengthen 
the  social  will.  We  have  indicated  in  a  previous 
chapter  the  method  by  which  this  may  be  done. 
The  life  of  the  school  should  be  organized  on  a 
social  basis  so  that  its  activities  will  call  out  the 
responsibility  of  social  relations.  The  work  of  the 
teacher,  as  we  have  said,  is  to  create  these  situa- 
tions and  to  suggest  lines  of  action  so  subtly  that 
the  children  believe  the  thoughts  to  be  their  own. 
School  is,  after  all,  only  society  organized  for  edu- 
cative purposes.  The  failure,  from  the  ethical 
standpoint,  in  the  social  organization  is  that  every- 
thing is  disjointed.  The  various  organizations  for 
mental  and  moral  development  are  attached  to 
one  another  like  the  cars  of  a  train,  and  the  sep- 
aration causes  many  to  fall  under  the  wheels. 
Much  of  the  training  formerly  given  in  the  home 
must  now  be  received  in  the  school.  Home  and 
school  should  be  united  in  concerted  action  through 
neighborhood  centres  in  which  the  teachers  are 
quite  as  much  the  leaders  of  parents  as  of  chil- 
dren. This,  naturally,  calls  for  a  high  grade  of 


128  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

teachers,  but  any  other  procedure  leads  to  the 
absurdity  of  a  variety  of  environments  each  war- 
ring against  the  others  for  the  control  of  the  chil- 
dren. Man  should  not  be  inferior  to  the  lower 
animals  in  the  matter  of  having  a  clearly  defined 
purpose  in  life.  With  the  latter  it  is  mere  sur- 
vival, but  the  goal  of  human  society  should  be 
social  and  ethical  progress.  Success  here  requires 
organization  of  social  forces  for  the  common  end. 
Intelligence  puts  this  responsibility  upon  man. 

The  occasional  rise  of  men  from  obscurity  to 
distinction  proves  that  ability  is  present  in  all 
classes,  and  society  should  plan  to  help  it  emerge. 
The  accomplishment  of  this  makes  the  demand 
for  the  abolition  of  slums  imperative.  It  was  the 
recognition  of  this  diffusion  of  talent  throughout 
the  social  strata  that  led  Gray  to  exclaim: 

"Perhaps  in  this  neglected  spot  is  laid 
Some  heart  once  pregnant  with  celestial  fire; 
Hands  that  the  rod  of  empire  might  have  sway'd, 
Or  waked  to  ecstasy  the  living  lyre. 

"  But  Knowledge  to  their  eyes  her  ample  page 
Rich  with  the  spoils  of  time  did  ne'er  unroll; 
Chill  Penury  repress'd  their  noble  rage, 
And  froze  the  genial  current  of  the  soul. 

"Some  village  Hampden  that  with  dauntless  breast 
The  little  tyrant  of  his  fields  withstood, 
Some  mute  inglorious  Milton  here  may  rest, 
Some  Cromwell  guiltless  of  his  country's  blood."  l 

1  "Elegy  Written  in  a  Country  Churchyard." 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY 

THE  purpose  of  the  public  schools  is  to  edu- 
cate children.  Like  all  platitudes  this  one  has 
been  stereotyped  into  a  fixed  meaning.  Educa- 
tional opportunity  is  the  idea.  Construct  a  great 
public-school  system,  open  the  doors  to  all,  and 
the  work  is  done.  But  suppose  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  children  decline  the  opportunity,  while 
a  great  part  of  those  who  accept  are  eliminated 
by  the  crude  machinery  of  the  system.  What 
then  ?  This  is  the  situation  in  our  country  to-day. 

Van  Denburg1  found,  in  his  investigation  of 
elimination  from  the  high  schools  of  New  York 
City,  that,  in  one  group  of  350,  the  members  of 
which  entered  at  the  normal  age  of  fourteen,  99 
boys  out  of  129  were  eliminated,  and  163  girls 
out  of  221  suffered  the  same  fate. 

After  showing  that  pupils  rated  high  in  results 
stayed  in  school  from  two  to  three  times  as  long 
as  those  with  low  rating,  Van  Denburg  concludes 
that  "the  waste  which  characterizes  the  sifting 
process  in  New  York  City  is  typical  of  a  situation 

1  "Elimination  of  Students  in  Public  Secondary  Schools,"  p.  92. 
129 


130  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

which  is  not  local  or  individual.  The  high  schools 
are  being  crowded  with  thousands  eager  for  some 
taste  of  secondary  education,  among  whom  are  a 
few  who  can  and  will  work  forward  to  successful 
graduation  under  the  present  sifting  process.  Yet 
with  these,  who  can  and  will,  are  more  who  can 
but  will  not,  because  our  process  of  selection  or 
sifting  is  crude  and  defective;  and  so  we  lose  this 
latter,  equally  good,  material  through  the  ineffi- 
ciency of  our  present  methods  of  selection."  l 

Thorndike  concludes  from  his  statistical  study 
of  the  elimination  of  pupils  from  the  public  schools 
that  in  cities  of  25,000  and  over,  90  children  out 
of  loo  remain  until  they  reach  the  fourth  gram- 
mar grade,  81  continue  to  the  fifth  grade,  68  to 
the  sixth,  54  to  the  seventh,  40  to  the  last  gram- 
mar grade,  27  to  the  first  high-school  year,  17  to 
the  second,  12  to  the  third,  and  8  to  the  fourth. 
In  other  words,  considerably  more  than  half  of 
the  children  have  been  eliminated  at  the  end  of 
the  grammar  school,  and  in  the  fourth  year  of  the 
high  school  only  8  out  of  100  remain.2 

"At  least  twenty-five  out  of  one  hundred  chil- 
dren of  the  white  population  of  our  country  who 
enter  school  stay  only  long  enough  to  learn  simple 
1  Op.  tit.,  p.  160. 

1  See  "The  Elimination  of  Pupils  from  School,"  by  Edward  L. 
Thorndike.  "United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  4, 
1907." 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     131 

English,  write  such  words  as  they  commonly  use, 
and  perform  the  four  operations  for  integers  with- 
out serious  errors. 

"Only  about  a  third  graduate  from  an  elemen- 
tary school  of  seven  grades  or  more. 

"Only  about  half  have  any  teaching  of  con- 
sequence concerning  the  history  of  their  own 
country  or  any  other,  or  concerning  the  world's 
literature,  science,  or  art."  l 

"The  fact  that  the  elimination  is  so  great  in 
the  first  year  of  the  high  school,"  Thorndike  con- 
tinues, "gives  evidence  that  a  large  share  of  the 
fault  lies  in  the  kind  of  education  given  in  the 
high  schools.  One  can  hardly  suppose  that  very 
many  of  the  parents  who  send  children  on  to  the 
high  school  do  so  with  no  expectation  of  keeping 
them  there  over  a  year,  or  that  a  large  number  of 
the  children  who  complete  the  elementary  school 
course  and  make  a  trial  of  the  high  school  are  so 
stupid  and  uninterested  in  being  educated  that 
they  had  better  be  got  rid  of  in  the  first  year." 

Valuable  information  regarding  the  attitude  of 
children  toward  their  schools  has  been  obtained 
by  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor.2 
Six  hundred  and  seventeen  children  from  seven 
towns  in  different  parts  of  the  country  were  visited 

1  Thorndike.,  op.  cit.,  pp.  9-10. 

2  "Report  on  the  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners 
in  the  United  States,"  vol.  VII,  pp.  iio-m. 


132  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

at  their  homes  and  questions  were  asked  in  such  a 
way  as  to  elicit  a  frank  expression  of  opinion  and 
free  discussion.  Of  these  617  children,  practi- 
cally 49  per  cent  were  not  satisfied  with  their 
school,  and  51  per  cent  were  satisfied.  The  chief 
cause  of  dissatisfaction  was  "a  dislike  of  the  gen- 
eral manner  of  life  in  school." 

While  the  report  of  the  commissioner  shows  a 
relation  between  inability  to  make  progress  in  the 
school  and  dissatisfaction,  it  is,  nevertheless,  a 
striking  fact  that  thirty-nine  and  a  half  per  cent 
of  the  pupils  rated  as  "bright"  by  their  teachers 
were  dissatisfied  with  the  school  conditions.1 

Evidence  that  the  dislike  of  school  or  teacher 
was  too  deeply  rooted  to  be  eradicated  by  manual 
or  industrial  training  was  indicated,  at  least  in 
the  case  of  these  children,  by  the  fact  that  sixty- 
two  per  cent  of  those  who  were  dissatisfied  said  that 
they  would  not  wish  to  continue  with  their  work 
were  these  arts  introduced.2  This,  however,  shows 
the  weak  hold  which  the  school  had  on  these  boys 
and  girls  rather  than  lack  of  influence  on  the  part 
of  industrial  training  to  keep  them  at  their  studies. 
Twenty-five  per  cent  of  both  groups  who  were 
withdrawing — the  satisfied  and  dissatisfied — would 
certainly  have  continued  their  school-work  had 
they  been  able  to  combine  it  with  training  in  one 

1  Op.  cit.,  pp.  120-121.  J  Op.  cit.,  p.  123. 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     133 

of  the  industries,  and  others  who  denied  it  when 
questioned  would  probably  have  been  favorably 
influenced. 

"On  the  whole  it  may  be  said  that  the  Ameri- 
cans and  other  English-speaking  [children]  were 
less  satisfied  with  the  schools  than  the  foreigners" 
(except  in  one  town).  "Our  Anglo-Saxon  conceit 
might  lead  us  to  attribute  the  uncritical  attitude 
of  the  foreigners  to  their  inferior  intelligence  but 
for  the  somewhat  disconcerting  fact  that  it  is 
among  the  Americans  and  other  English-speaking 
children  that  the  largest  percentage  of  failure  to 
progress  is  found."  1 

The  Massachusetts  Commission  on  Industrial 
Education  also  found  by  its  investigation  that  "it 
is  dissatisfaction  on  the  part  of  the  child  that 
takes  him  from  school."  2 

It  is  a  commonplace  of  psychology  that  we 
interpret  and  value  ideas  in  terms  of  our  past 
experience.  Those  who  have  no  intimate  associa- 
tions with  educational  values  cannot  be  expected 
to  be  impressed  with  the  importance  of  knowledge. 
They  often  consider  it  a  luxury  which  poor  people 
cannot  afford.  Yet  it  is  the  unschooled  class 
that  sets  the  social  and  educational  standards  by 
which  the  lives  of  large  numbers  of  children  are 

1  Op.  cit.,  p.  114. 

2  Report,  1906,  "Columbia  University  Reprints,  No.  I,"  p.  44. 


134  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

irrevocably  determined.  Since  the  problems  of 
democracy  centre  around  the  wage-earners  of  the 
congested  parts  of  cities,  the  social  good  impera- 
tively demands  that  the  schools  be  made  to  ap- 
peal to  the  personal  interests  of  the  inhabitants. 
Parents  must  be  made  to  feel  that  so  much  edu- 
cation as  the  public  schools  offer  is  essential  to 
the  welfare  of  their  children. 

A  democracy,  in  its  final  analysis,  must  rest  on 
the  good-will  and  intelligence  of  its  constituents, 
and  if  a  popular  government  with  such  diverse 
traditions  and  interests  as  our  own  is  to  live,  it 
will  be  on  account  of  the  social  and  ethical  ideals 
acquired  in  the  public  schools.  But  the  children 
must  attend  because  their  parents  wish  them  to 
be  there,  as  well  as  from  their  own  choice,  and 
not  because  they  are  led  by  a  truant  officer.  We 
all  believe  in  compulsory-education  laws,  but  we 
must  also  admit  that,  like  every  other  form  of 
coercion,  their  necessity  reveals  a  weakness  in  the 
system.  Forced  acquiescence  is  needed  in  an 
emergency,  but  as  a  principle  of  action  it  is  proof 
of  administrative  inadequacy.  A  teacher  who 
secures  obedience  through  fear  of  punishment,  like 
a  government  that  maintains  order  by  threats  or 
by  constant  police  interference,  is  inefficient.  In 
like  manner  a  public-school  system  may  compel  all 
children  under  fourteen  years  of  age  to  attend 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     135 

school  without  displaying  any  exceptional  educa- 
tional efficiency.  If  children  are  to  be  educated 
in  any  proper  sense  of  the  word,  they  must  attend 
because  they  desire  to  go,  not  because  the  law  re- 
quires it.  The  function  of  the  truant  officer,  then, 
is  to  bridge  over  a  time  of  reorganization,  of  re- 
adaptation.  If  truant  officers  are  required,  there 
is  evidently  a  lack  of  adjustment  between  the 
school  and  a  portion  of  the  community,  and  the 
larger  community,  society,  has  a  right  to  insist 
that  the  cause  of  this  maladjustment  be  investi- 
gated and  remedied.  I  admit  the  difficulty  of  the 
problem,  but  its  complexity  does  not  lessen  our 
responsibility  for  its  solution.  The  importance  of 
the  question  is  so  great  that  it  must  receive  at- 
tention. 

Not  only  do  parents  in  congested  districts  lack 
interest  in  public  education,  but  they  are  almost 
suspicious  of  the  ease  with  which  it  may  be  ob- 
tained. Disposal  of  wares  requires  more  than 
merely  offering  a  good  thing  at  a  low  price.  This 
is  equally  true  whether  we  try  to  sell  goods  or 
offer  education,  and  the  lower  the  price  the  harder 
it  is  many  times  to  win  acceptance.  During  the 
Saint  Louis  Exposition,  a  man  who  had  just  pur- 
chased an  entrance  ticket  received  a  message  call- 
ing him  downtown  on  business.  As  he  did  not 
wish  to  throw  the  ticket  away,  he  tried  to  give 


136  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

it  to  some  of  those  who  were  waiting  in  line  at 
the  ticket-office.  To  his  astonishment  not  one  of 
the  half  dozen  to  whom  he  offered  it  would  ac- 
cept the  gift.  It  was  so  cheap  that  they  were 
suspicious  of  his  motives.  It  is  much  the  same 
with  public-school  education.  It  is  so  easily  ob- 
tained that  some  of  the  very  ignorant  who  do 
not  appreciate  its  value,  those  whom  we  ought 
especially  to  reach,  think  we  are  trying  to  get  the 
better  of  them. 

To  create  this  desire  for  learning  among  the  un- 
schooled is  an  important  preliminary  to  any  solu- 
tion of  the  public-school  question.  But  such  an 
appeal  can  never  be  made  except  by  admitting  the 
claims  of  human  nature,  and  by  making  an  ac- 
curate analysis  of  the  environment  in  which  this 
nature  works.  The  most  perplexing  thing  in  the 
world  and  the  most  difficult  to  comprehend  is  this 
apparently  simple  human  element,  because  each 
of  us  possesses  a  different  specimen  of  it.  The 
trouble  is  that  we  assume  too  much  similarity  in 
motives  of  conduct,  and,  of  course,  our  own  state 
is  thought  to  be  a  sample  of  what  the  minds 
of  others  should  be.  Yet,  as  we  know  very  well, 
when  we  pause  to  think,  human  nature  is  exceed- 
ingly diverse  and  coquettish.  It  must  be  closely 
investigated  by  study  of  the  various  types  of  pop- 
ulation and  the  conditions  amid  which  they  live, 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     137 

in  order  to  ascertain  the  effective  motives  of  ac- 
tion among  different  groups  of  men,  and  then  the 
schools  should  be  organized  to  appeal  to  these 
motives.  I  am  entirely  willing  to  admit  that  the 
educational  incentives  to  which  we  must  adapt 
ourselves  may  often  be  narrowly  utilitarian  in  out- 
look, yet  it  is  necessary  to  respect  both  human 
nature  and  human  necessity;  the  first  step  is  to 
bring  children  into  the  schools  and  the  second 
to  keep  them  there.  After  they  have  been  won, 
a  skilled  teacher  can  unite  even  utilitarian  sub- 
jects with  much  that  makes  for  good  citizenship 
and  culture.  But  the  fundamental  thing  is  to  win 
the  co-operation  of  different  communities  by  ap- 
pealing to  their  distinctive  points  of  view. 

After  prejudices  against  the  schools  have  been 
overcome  and  the  children  secured  from  the  tene- 
ment districts,  these  youngsters  cannot  be  nour- 
ished on  stereotyped  education.  The  courses  of 
study  should  be  different  from  those  in  other  parts 
of  the  city.  Here,  at  least,  trade-learning  has  its 
important  place  in  the  higher  grades  of  the  gram- 
mar school.  Investigations  have  shown  that,  es- 
pecially in  crowded  districts,  large  buildings  draw- 
ing pupils  from  a  wide  area  are  a  mistake  from  an 
educational  point  of  view.  Public  schools,  like 
playgrounds,  have  a  certain  radius  of  efficiency 
and  beyond  this  distance,  in  the  congested  dis- 


138  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

tricts,  they  do  not  exert  sufficient  influence  over 
the  residents  to  attract  the  children  to  them.  In 
the  immediate  outlay,  smaller  buildings  scattered 
through  a  region  now  cared  for  by  one  large  build- 
ing, would  be  more  expensive,  but  it  is  cheaper 
to  train  boys  in  this  comparatively  expensive  way 
than  to  support  them  later  as  criminals.  Fur- 
ther, the  most  skilful  teachers  who  can  be  se- 
cured should  be  placed  in  these  districts.  What 
can  be  accomplished  with  small  classes  and  ex- 
ceptional teachers  is  shown  by  the  report  of  the 
superintendent  of  the  Boston  schools.  Speaking 
of  two  disciplinary  classes,  the  superintendent  says: 
"In  both  classes  [composed  of  truants  and  others 
who  had  made  trouble  in  their  schools]  the  de- 
portment of  the  pupils  has  been  excellent,  the  at- 
tendance regular,  the  interest  in  the  work  great, 
and  the  progress  of  the  pupils  satisfactory.  .  .  . 
The  most  serious  difficulty  that  has  been  met  in  these 
classes  arises  when  the  attempt  is  made  to  return 
some  of  the  boys  to  the  school  from  which  they  came"  1 
In  other  words,  the  boys  enjoyed  the  work  in  the 
disciplinary  classes  so  much  that  they  did  not  re- 
quire attention  from  the  truant  officers,  but  the 
old  antagonism  to  study  reappeared  as  soon  as 
they  returned  to  their  regular  classes. 

1  "Report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Schools,  Boston,  1908."     The 
italics  are  the  author's. 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     139 

Two  elements  contribute  to  the  success  of  these 
disciplinary  classes :  better  teachers  and  fewer  pu- 
pils. "With  scarcely  an  exception,  pupils  whose 
school-work  and  behavior,  under  ordinary  condi- 
tions, have  been  valueless  to  themselves  and  det- 
rimental to  their  classmates,  have  become,  in  the 
disciplinary  classes,  interested  in  their  work,  and 
therefore  obedient  and  punctual."  l 

In  visiting  one  of  these  classes  the  writer  no- 
ticed that  a  number  of  boys  remained  after  school 
to  play  checkers.  On  inquiry  he  learned  that  this 
was  common,  and  the  teacher  added  that  severe 
were  frequently  on  hand  in  the  morning,  ready 
for  work,  half  an  hour  before  the  beginning  of 
school.  Yet  these  were  boys  who  had  been  sent 
to  this  school  for  lack  of  interest  in  their  studies, 
and  because  their  teachers  could  not  manage  them. 
It  is  something  of  a  social  anomaly  that  parents 
who  wish  their  boys  to  receive  the  best  public- 
school  education  must  send  them  to  the  classes 
intended  for  truants  and  incorrigibles. 

The  prevailing  unwillingness  to  accept  the  prof- 
fered education  presents  a  serious  educational  sit- 
uation. School  boards  and  superintendents  may 
settle  down  in  their  dignity  and  point  to  the 
educational  opportunity;  orators  with  more  pa- 

1  "Report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools,  Boston,  /goo," 
p.  16. 


140  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

triotic  optimism  than  intelligence  may  rant  over 
our  glorious  public-school  system;  the  fact  still 
remains  that  even  magnificent  buildings  splen- 
didly equipped  and  manned  by  good  teachers  do 
not  fulfil  the  educational  obligations.  Obviously, 
the  schools  must  educate  the  children  and  not 
merely  offer  opportunity.  The  time  when  the 
blame  can  be  put  upon  the  child  is  gone.  That 
excuse  went  with  original  sin.  Curiously  enough, 
also,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  teachers  who  find 
so  many  incorrigibles,  men  who  know  how  to  deal 
with  them  and  who  receive  the  worst  samples  of 
"bad  boys,"  testify  that  boys  are  after  all  pretty 
much  alike.  Why,  then,  are  so  many  incorrigibles 
found  in  the  schools,  and  why  are  so  many  elimi- 
nated on  account  of  stupidity?  Why,  again,  and 
this  includes  the  previous  questions  and  much  be- 
sides, why  do  so  many  children  withdraw  because 
they  are  "tired  of  school"? 

Evidently  the  public  schools  are  not  educating 
the  children  of  the  nation.  Hardly  more  than 
ten  per  cent  of  those  entering  the  first  grade,  as 
Professor  Thorndike  and  others  have  shown,  re- 
main in  school  long  enough  to  obtain  more  knowl- 
edge than  is  barely  sufficient  for  the  needs  of  the 
simplest  existence.  The  remainder  leave  with  no 
adequate  or  enduring  knowledge  of  those  subjects 
which  are  the  basis  of  the  intellectual  life. 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     141 

The  school  authorities  can  solve  this  problem 
of  educational  failure  for  themselves  or  they  can 
wait  until  the  situation  becomes  so  intolerable  that 
the  people  take  the  solution  out  of  their  hands,  a 
time  now  fast  approaching.  The  New  York  City 
schools  have  just  been  investigated  by  an  expert 
employed  by  the  Committee  on  School  Inquiry 
of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment. 
Neither  the  board  of  education  nor  the  superin- 
tendent had  any  control  over  the  investigation. 
This  plan  is  likely  to  become  fashionable  unless 
school  authorities  awaken  to  their  social  responsi- 
bilities. 

The  number  of  children  who  withdraw  when 
hardly  half  through  the  grammar  grades  indicates 
that  the  mass  of  the  people  are  not  interested  in 
the  schools  beyond  securing  for  their  children  just 
enough  elementary  education  to  enable  them  to 
read,  write,  and  cipher.  Some  even  regard  the 
school  as  an  inexcusable  interference  with  their 
parental  prerogative.  This  is  particularly  notice- 
able in  the  congested  parts  of  cities.  One  cause 
of  the  general  indifference  is  that  the  schools  have 
stood  aloof  from  the  people.  Requirements  have 
been  put  upon  the  community  without  opportu- 
nity for  discussion.  The  result  is  protest  which 
expresses  itself  in  various  ways  according  to  the 
traditions  of  the  protestants.  Riots  even  have 


142  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

occurred  in  New  York  City.  In  smaller  places 
the  protest  is  more  likely  to  take  the  form  of 
sullen  apathy  or  withdrawal  of  the  child. 

Now,  under  a  democracy  the  people  cannot 
be  successfully  handled  by  monarchical  methods. 
They  insist  upon  being  consulted.  Otherwise  they 
refuse  to  play  the  game.  In  extreme  cases  they 
revolt.  I  do  not  say  that  the  demand  for  par- 
ticipation in  the  management  of  affairs  is  always 
wisely  made  or  intelligently  directed.  I  am  call- 
ing attention  to  a  common  characteristic.  The 
story  of  the  donkey  that  begged  permission  to 
keep  his  ears  dry  under  the  traveller's  tent  and 
finally  took  entire  possession  by  kicking  out  the 
man  who  had  reluctantly  and  begrudgingly  granted 
one  request  after  another,  was  written  by  a  psy- 
chologist. Give  a  people  self-government  in  one 
thing  and  they  will  finally  demand  it  in  every- 
thing. What  they  will  do  if  their  demand  is  de- 
nied depends  upon  the  importance  which  the  pro- 
ceedings assume  in  their  minds.  They  may  fight 
for  their  right  to  be  heard  or  they  may  ignore  the 
whole  thing.  The  latter  policy  is  usually  pur- 
sued toward  the  schools.  Many  men  of  affairs 
consider  them  of  little  importance  compared  with 
their  business,  deeming  them  not  worth  fighting 
about.  This  is  likely  to  leave  the  control  of  the 
schools,  so  far  as  the  public  has  any  influence,  to 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     143 

those  who  derive  pleasure  or  profit  in  exploiting 
them  for  the  benefit  of  friends  who  are  apprecia- 
tive of  small  favors.  These  men  then  represent 
the  popular  voice  in  the  election  of  boards  of  edu- 
cation, and  in  the  formation  of  public  sentiment 
concerning  the  adequate  qualities  of  superintend- 
ents and  teachers.  This  is  especially  evident  in 
the  smaller  towns.  The  less  of  other  business  a 
man  has,  in  the  present  laisser  faire  method  of  the 
schools,  the  more  is  he  willing  to  fight  for  his 
democratic  right  to  rule  their  destinies.  It  may  be 
that  he  only  wishes  to  secure  a  position  as  teacher 
for  his  daughter.  But  results  are  relative,  as  we 
said  a  moment  ago.  Average  men  of  affairs,  not 
being  educated  in  public  spirit,  fight  for  their 
right  to  rule  only  when  the  expense  of  the  system 
becomes  so  great  as  to  make  the  question  im- 
portant if  compared  with  their  own  business. 
That  is  the  situation  in  New  York  City  to-day. 

My  statement  was  that  one  reason  for  the  lack 
of  an  intelligent  public  interest  in  the  schools  is 
the  fact  that  participation  has  not  been  encour- 
aged by  the  school  officials.  Interest  promotes 
interference,  and  that  is  very  abhorrent  to  super- 
intendents. In  justice  to  these  gentlemen  it  is 
only  fair  to  add  that  their  objection  is  a  trifle 
human  as  well  as  school-masterish.  We  are  a 
democratic  nation  not  altogether  because  we  be- 


144  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

lieve  in  the  rule  of  the  people;  our  democracy  is 
reinforced  by  our  objecting  to  being  ruled  by  some 
one  else.  There  are  many  fervent  democrats  who 
would  believe  in  a  monarchy  provided  they  were 
king.  Each  one  feels  that  he  knows  a  little  better 
than  any  one  else  how  things  should  be  done. 
Besides,  man  has  not  yet  evolved  out  of  the  primi- 
tive love  for  superior  authority  to  which  we  al- 
luded in  an  earlier  chapter. 

But  man  has  a  counterbalancing  characteristic 
without  which  democracy  would  be  impossible. 
It  was  seen  in  considering  self-government  among 
boys  that  they  yield  gracefully  when  the  major- 
ity is  against  them.  This  is  the  saving  feature  of 
democracy.  Love  of  authority  does  not  require 
that  the  individual  rule  alone.  Were  that  the 
case  society  would  be  in  perpetual  revolt.  The 
feeling  is  measurably  satisfied  when  one  is  con- 
scious that  his  opinion  counts. 

In  democracies,  whatever  the  differences,  the 
common  factor  is  that  man  insists  upon  exercising 
his  authority  in  some  way.  In  our  early  history 
the  town  meeting  satisfied  this  requirement  of  men. 
Now  that  the  country  has  outgrown  the  old  form 
of  these  gatherings,  their  place  must  be  filled  by 
something  that  will  meet  the  same  need — i.  e.>  the 
demand  for  participation  in  the  management  of 
affairs  not  only  in  politics  but  in  education — and 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     145 

by  ignoring  this  mental  fact,  school  officials  have 
produced  an  attitude  of  dangerous  indifference  to- 
ward the  schools.  It  remains  to  consider  how  the 
community  interest  may  be  awakened. 

If  we  have  rightly  sketched  the  mental  attitude 
of  a  democratic  people  toward  their  institutions, 
then  schools  must  have  a  closer  contact  with  those 
from  whom  they  expect  support.  The  use  of  the 
school  buildings  as  "social  centres"  has  been 
thought  to  meet  this  need.  In  Rochester,  New 
York,  a  school  building  in  one  of  the  better  sec- 
tions of  the  city  was  selected  for  the  experiment. 
This  neighborhood  was  chosen  for  the  first  "cen- 
tre" in  order  to  avoid  the  opposition  which  those 
in  the  congested  districts  are  inclined  to  feel  to- 
ward organizations  which  make  invidious  distinc- 
tions between  different  communities.  "A  month 
after  the  opening,  a  merchant,  whose  place  of  busi- 
ness was  near  the  'centre,'  as  the  school  building 
in  which  the  meetings  are  held  is  called,  stopped 
the  director  on  the  street  to  say,  'The  social  centre 
has  accomplished  what  I  regarded  as  impossible. 
I  have  been  here  nine  years,  and  during  that  time 
there  has  always  been  a  gang  of  toughs  around 
these  corners,  which  has  been  a  continual  nui- 
sance. This  winter  the  gang  has  disappeared.'  "  l 

^'Rochester  Social  Centres  and  Civic  Clubs;   The  Story  of  the 
First  Two  Years." 


146  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

The  gang  had  been  transformed  into  a  debating 
club. 

"The  first  time  I  attended  a  social  centre  in 
Rochester,"  says  the  editor  of  The  Boston  Com- 
mon, "was  on  a  Sunday  afternoon.  In  one  room 
were  one  hundred  and  ten  natives  of  Italy,  chiefly 
day  laborers.  They  were  of  the  age  and  kind  often 
associated  by  ignorant  Americans  with  Sunday 
debauchery  and  stabbing  affrays.  But  here  they 
were  studying  American  history  and  learning  to 
speak  the  English  language.  They  were  too  busy 
earning  wages  to  study  during  the  week;  but  for 
the  social  centre  open  on  Sunday  afternoons  they, 
too,  might  have  had  to  seek  fellowship  in  some 
villainous  back  room  at  the  price  of  liquor  and 
disorder."  l 

School  buildings  as  social  centres  have  also  been 
tried  in  Chicago.  The  Kinzie  School  is  situated 
in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  factory  and  cheap  room- 
ing districts.  The  principal,  who  has  followed  the 
work  closely,  says  that  the  activities  of  the  "cen- 
tre" have  brought  families  together  in  support  of 
the  school,  among  whom  more  than  twenty  dif- 
ferent languages  are  spoken.  New-comers  into  the 
neighborhood  have  more  rapidly  adopted  the  spirit 
of  the  school,  and  loyalty  is  more  in  evidence 
among  those  who  have  withdrawn.  Perhaps  it  is 

1  The  Boston  Common,  February  4,  1911. 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     147 

owing  to  this  new  feeling  of  loyalty  that  five  girls 
and  five  boys  from  families  whose  children  have 
never  before  remained  in  school  beyond  trfe  age 
required  by  law  have  just  graduated  from  the 
grammar  school.  At  all  events,  it  is  quite  cer- 
tain that  this  is  the  reason  why  five  boys  returned 
to  school  to  finish  their  course  after  having  left 
at  the  legal  age  to  work.  This  becomes  more  sig- 
nificant from  the  fact  that  there  are  hardly  more 
than  four  hundred  pupils  in  the  school,  and  the 
"centre"  has  been  in  operation  about  two  years. 
The  residents  of  the  Kinzie  district  are  now  begin- 
ning to  look  upon  this  school  as  a  part  of  their 
family  life.  The  women  of  the  ward,  through 
their  club,  recently  demanded  that  a  disreputable 
resort  with  saloon  attachment,  near  the  school, 
be  closed.  And  they  accomplished  their  purpose, 
though  the  proprietor,  through  political  influence, 
for  two  years  had  defied  the  efforts  of  the  Juvenile 
Protective  League. 

The  social  centres  have  an  added  significance 
because  modern  cities  are  too  large  to  sustain  a 
uniform  and  continuous  civic  spirit.  To  produce 
this  spirit  there  must  be  many  local  feeders. 
Questions  are  often  of  community  importance,  un- 
interesting to  those  in  other  sections.  At  present, 
municipal  reforms  come  in  waves,  a*nd  during  the 
interval,  between  the  crests  of  civic  enthusiasm, 


148  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

the  people  appear  indifferent  to  the  quality  of  their 
government.  The  different  communities  in  a  city 
have  their  own  system  of  social  values,  depending, 
among  other  things,  upon  the  active  traditions 
of  the  locality.  Some  of  these  communities  are 
almost  as  isolated,  socially  and  intellectually,  as 
they  would  be  on  an  oceanic  island.  This  is  true 
of  certain  foreign  settlements  in  our  midst,  as  well 
as  of  others  of  a  more  heterogeneous  nature. 
Ideas  spring  up  and  are  perpetuated  within  these 
social  groups  without  any  definite  relation  to  the 
larger  civic  life  beyond.  To  harmonize  these  social 
variants  so  that  they  may  be  adjusted  to  civic 
progress  is  one  of  the  perplexing  questions  which 
city  life  has  forced  upon  society,  and  it  is  one  with 
which  the  schools,  if  they  broaden  their  ideas,  are 
peculiarly  fitted  to  deal.  These  people  require 
something  closer  to  them,  something  more  inti- 
mately associated  with  their  daily  lives,  something 
more  tangible  than  the  abstract  idea  of  good 
government  or  the  city  hall.  Now  the  public 
schools  are  pre-eminently  adapted  to  foster  this 
community  spirit.  They  are  the  part  of  the  social 
organism  that  comes  into  the  most  natural  and 
intimate  contact  with  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity. They  are  free  from  the  traditions  and 
emotional  adhesions  that  cluster  around  religious 
and  charitable  organizations  and  which  arouse 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     149 

prejudice,  unwarranted  though  it  may  be,  against 
their  endeavor  to  improve  conditions.  At  all 
events,  those  in  the  congested  areas  of  cities  seem 
more  willing  to  unite  for  the  school  than  for  any 
other  purpose. 

A  revival  of  community  spirit  similar  to  that 
of  the  Kinzie  School  district  has  been  observed 
in  Minneapolis.  The  principal  of  the  Seward 
School,  writing  of  the  social  centre  in  his  build- 
ing, says:  "Already  I  see  a  new  interest  taken  in 
the  school  by  parents  and  pupils  as  well  as  by 
teachers.  There  is  more  of  the  spirit  of  co-opera- 
tion. The  school  means  more  to  the  district. 
The  social  centre  is  a  place  where  all  may  gather 
together  and  talk  about  the  things  which  are 
worth  talking  about.  It  is,  and  will  continue  to 
be,  a  force  for  the  making  of  cleaner  politics." 
Politics,  however,  are  not  the  only  thing  that  so- 
cial centres  may  help  to  cleanse.  In  Milwaukee 
a  man  who  had  erected  a  large  theatre  for  a  low 
class  of  shows  asked  the  board  of  education  to 
close  one  of  the  centres  because  it  was  ruining 
his  business. 

Whatever  good  has  already  resulted  from  this 
new  use  of  the  school-house  springs  from  the  re- 
vived feeling  among  the  people  that  these  build- 
ings are  really  their  own.  They  are  gathering- 
places  for  such  companionship  as  their  nature 


150  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

craves,  for  man  is  a  gregarious  animal  whose  in- 
stincts are  much  thwarted  by  the  defective  social 
arrangement  of  modern  times.  The  social  instinct 
has  been  ignored,  and  this  impulse  is  especially 
strong  in  those  who  have  not  the  resources  within 
themselves  which  education  gives,  and  who  work 
all  day  at  hard  manual  labor.  They  crave  compan- 
ionship, and  those  who  understand  this  fundamen- 
tal human  need  should  supply  a  place  where  it 
may  be  satisfied  in  a  manner  that  may  lead  to 
social  growth.  Why  should  not  the  school  build- 
ings be  equipped  to  compete  with  dance  halls  for 
evening  patronage?  If  this  were  done,  the  par- 
ents would  come  to  feel  that  the  schools  belong 
to  them.  It  would  awaken  a  community  spirit 
which  is  the  essence  of  democracy.  Here  men 
could  hold  their  meetings  for  the  discussion  of 
labor  problems.  The  political  nature  of  the  meet- 
ings could  arouse  no  reasonable  objection  if  the 
buildings  were  at  the  disposal  of  any  party  that 
wished  to  reach  the  people  of  the  community. 
"The  school-houses  are  the  real  places  for  political 
meetings,"  exclaimed  the  chairman  of  the  Demo- 
cratic County  Committee  at  a  meeting  called  in 
Rochester  to  decide  whether  the  request  of  a  Re- 
publican club  to  use  the  school  building  for  com- 
mittee meetings  should  be  granted. 

Problems  of  poverty,  its  cause  and  the  means 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     151 

of  its  elimination,  could  be  studied  and  discussed. 
Certain  evenings  might  well  be  designated  for 
these  questions  and  citizens  outside  of  the  dis- 
trict invited  to  be  present  and  participate.  It  is 
safe  to  say  that  the  millionaire,  if  he  would  at- 
tend, might  gain  no  less  profit  from  these  discus- 
sions than  the  day  laborer.  "How  the  other  half 
live"  would  afford  valuable  material  for  thought 
for  both  halves.  These  questions  will  not  down, 
and  the  place  for  their  discussion  should  not  be 
limited  to  the  corner  saloon  and  the  rich  men's 
clubs — the  present  gathering-places  for  the  social 
extremes.  There  should  be  some  appointed  room 
in  which  men  in  all  conditions  of  life  could  come 
together  on  an  equal  footing  and  where  the  infor- 
mation gathered  in  recent  years  could  be  made 
the  basis  of  deliberation.  Such  meetings  held  in 
school  buildings  under  the  auspices  of  the  board 
of  education  would  be  the  best  sort  of  social  uni- 
versities, and  the  writer  can  say  from  personal 
attendance  at  similar  gatherings  that  the  accurate 
formulation  of  facts  would  not  be  given  wholly 
by  college  statisticians.  The  amount  of  reading 
and  study  which  some  of  the  "laborers"  have 
given  to  these  questions  is,  many  times,  astound- 
ing. The  justification  for  using  the  school  build- 
ings for  such  discussions  is  that  they  are  about 
social  problems  which  are  closely  connected  with 


152  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

the  withdrawal  of  children  from  the  schools  and 
with  the  widest  interests  of  society. 

But  the  value  of  social  centres  is  not  limited  to 
cities.  In  Texas,  where  they  are  being  organized 
in  the  rural  districts,  families  far  separated  have 
been  united  by  the  common  interests  of  the  schools 
and  community.  Men  who  never  gave  the  schools 
any  attention  have  suddenly  discovered  that  these 
institutions  are  a  part  of  their  own  life.  Libraries 
are  being  organized  and  meetings  are  held  for  the 
discussion  of  matters  of  common  welfare.  All  this, 
of  course,  reacts  upon  the  schools.  They  are  the 
"centres"  in  more  than  one  sense.  Here  the  men 
and  women  of  the  district  gather,  and  the  purposes 
and  needs  of  the  school  are  naturally  prominent 
among  the  questions  for  discussion. 

There  is,  however,  another  side  to  social  cen- 
tres. Just  as  pupil-government  furnishes  an  or- 
ganization through  which  the  plans  of  the  prin- 
cipal may  be  brought  quickly  before  the  leaders 
of  the  boys,  so  these  centres  give  opportunity  to 
the  teachers  to  make  their  wishes  known  to  the 
people.  The  patrons  of  country  schools  are  widely 
scattered.  Teachers  frequently  complain  of  the 
difficulty  of  reaching  them.  Their  plans  and  ac- 
tions are  often  misunderstood.  Centre  meetings 
are  periodical  gatherings  for  talking  things  over. 
The  leaders  of  public  opinion  are  there,  and  men 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     153 

no  less  than  boys  are  responsive  to  the  will  of  the 
majority. 

I  am  aware  that  social  centres  are  not  always 
run  successfully.  But  neither  are  automobiles. 
Disastrous  as  the  thought  may  be  to  our  self- 
esteem,  individual  incapacity  must  always  be 
reckoned  among  the  possible  causes  of  failure. 
One  is  so  prone  to  test  the  worth  of  a  plan  by 
one's  own  power  to  carry  it  through  successfully, 
that  the  writer  ventures  to  illustrate  again  what 
was  said  with  reference  to  pupil-government.  All 
who  trust  themselves  to  my  skill  in  driving  auto- 
mobiles may  fracture  their  skulls  on  telegraph- 
poles.  Yet  this  does  not  prove  that  an  automo- 
bile cannot  be  kept  in  the  road.  Instead  of  giving 
up  riding,  the  sensible  procedure  would  be  to  put  a 
man  in  charge  who  knows  how  to  run  the  machine. 
The  writer  has  carefully  investigated  social-centre 
failures,  and  so  far  as  he  has  been  able  to  learn  of 
them,  in  every  case  the  cause  was  bad  manage- 
ment. A  man  was  at  the  steering  gear  who  did 
not  understand  his  business.  A  popular  plan 
among  school  officials  is  to  put  a  teacher  in 
charge.  Many  superintendents,  with  the  same 
fatuity  that  prevents  them  from  welcoming  the 
assistance  of  outside  experts  in  school  matters, 
insist  on  controlling  the  "centres."  So  they  se- 
cure the  appointment  of  one  of  their  subordinates 


154  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

without  any  reference  to  his  qualifications,  and 
when  he  runs  the  machine  into  the  fence  they 
boldly  proclaim  that  it  will  not  work. 

There  is  a  peculiar  disease  known  as  arrogantia 
pedagogica,  which  must  be  of  bacteriological  origin 
since  you  are  affected  by  the  microbe  every  time 
you  talk  with  a  certain  type  of  pedagogue.  He 
lays  down  the  law  to  you  just  as  he  does  to  the 
children  in  his  school-room.  His  dictum  requires 
no  proof  and  tolerates  no  discussion.  This  is  the 
ailment  that  often  incapacitates  teachers  for  the 
work  of  which  we  have  been  speaking.  They  can- 
not avoid  treating  the  members  of  the  "centre" 
as  their  pupils  and  they  expect  the  same  sort  of 
results  as  are  demanded  in  the  school.  When 
teachers  are  fatigued,  this  microbe  is  especially 
active  and  shows  the  effects  of  its  inroads  in 
various  ways.  The  mental  perspective  of  the 
school-master  is  distorted.  An  unusually  success- 
ful principal  has  discovered  that  "the  teachers' 
impression  of  social  conditions  is  apt  to  be 
warped  if  obtained  as  a  result  of  visits  made  to 
the  children's  homes  after  a  day's  work."  This 
mental  bluntness  endangers  the  success  of  any 
evening  work  which  requires  tact,  as  do  social 
centres. 

Unquestionably,  principals  and  teachers  should 
be  active  members  of  the  centres,  and  some  of 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     155 

them,  through  the  training  thus  received,  would 
develop  the  power  of  leaders.  Teachers  need  re- 
generation if  they  are  to  accomplish  the  larger 
work  which  is  now  demanded  of  the  schools.  The 
common  saying  that  they  have  peculiar  marks 
which  make  them  easily  distinguishable  in  a  group 
is  the  popular  way  of  referring  to  the  pathological 
mental  condition  of  which  we  have  been  speaking. 
And  the  human  contact  in  these  centres  with  the 
parents  of  their  pupils  is  the  best  remedy  for  their 
affliction. 

We  have  been  considering  how  the  people  in  a 
community  may  be  brought  to  the  school.  It  is 
equally  important  to  take  the  school  to  them. 
Our  problem  must  not  be  forgotten.  Let  us  ex- 
amine it  from  another  point  of  view.  It  is  im- 
possible for  the  great  mass  of  the  people  to  have 
aspirations  beyond  making  a  living.  Under  pres- 
ent social  conditions  their  poverty  compels  them 
to  rid  themselves  as  quickly  as  possible  of  the 
expense  of  supporting  their  children.  They  went 
out  to  work  at  fourteen.  There  is  no  way  for 
many  of  them  to  rescue  their  children  from  the 
necessity  of  doing  the  same  thing  even  if  they 
could  see  the  value  of  it.  They  do  not  know  that 
unskilled  labor  is  at  a  continually  increasing  dis- 
advantage and  that  boys  under  sixteen  are  not 
wanted  as  apprentices  in  skilled  work.  This  is 


156  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

something  that  they  must  be  taught.  The  edu- 
cation of  parents  is  necessary  if  we  are  to  hold  the 
boys  in  the  school.  Of  course  this  education  is 
very  different  from  that  of  their  children.  It  is 
not  so  much  the  information  given  in  books  that 
is  needed  as  enough  knowledge  of  industrial  con- 
ditions to  realize  that  a  better  education  is  re- 
quired in  workmen  to-day  than  when  they  were 
young.  There  are  comparatively  few  parents  who 
are  not  anxious  to  give  their  children  the  best 
start  in  life  that  they  can.  They  simply  do  not 
know  how  to  do  it.  And  it  is  the  business  of  the 
school  to  help  them  obtain  this  information. 

But,  after  ignorance  of  the  worth  of  education 
has  been  changed  into  appreciation  of  its  value, 
there  remains  another  social  problem  which  must 
be  reckoned  with,  and  that  is  poverty.  The  par- 
ents of  six  hundred  and  twelve  children  were 
questioned  by  representatives  of  the  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Labor  regarding  their  financial 
ability  to  send  their  children  to  school.  Forty- 
one  per  cent  of  these  parents  said  that  they  were 
willing  to  have  their  children  continue  but  were 
unable  to  do  so,  and  sixteen  per  cent  were  both 
unable  and  unwilling.1  Assuming  that  families 
are  able  to  maintain  their  children  in  school  when 
there  is  a  weekly  income  of  two  dollars  and  over 

1  Op.  cit.,  p.  98. 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     157 

per  capita,  after  subtracting  expenses  for  rent, 
sickness,  and  death,  and  deducting  the  earnings 
of  the  children,  the  report  still  shows  that  the 
incomes  of  forty  per  cent  of  five  hundred  and 
seventy-three  families,  whose  wages  were  ascer- 
tained, were  too  meagre  to  permit  the  luxury  of 
giving  their  children  a  grammar-school  education.1 
The  significance  of  these  figures  becomes  more 
striking  when  it  is  observed  that  none  of  the 
families  investigated  lived  in  large  cities. 

The  Massachusetts  commission  in  its  investi- 
gation found  that  over  forty-eight  per  cent  of 
five  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty-nine  chil- 
dren left  school  because  their  parents  were  unable 
to  support  them.2 

Further  information  on  this  subject  is  given  in 
the  report  of  the  New  York  Association  for  Im- 
proving the  Condition  of  the  Poor.3  Eleven  thou- 
sand families  applied  to  the  association  for  aid 
during  the  year.  At  a  very  conservative  estimate 
these  families  represent  thirty  thousand  children. 
Intemperance  was  found  to  be  a  comparatively 
rare  cause  of  poverty.  Sickness,  unemployment, 
widowhood,  and  under-pay  were  the  chief  causes. 
Of  fifteen  hundred  families  especially  studied,  the 
association  found  sickness  to  be  the  cause  of  nearly 

1  Op.  cit.,  p.  104.  *  Op.  cit.,  p.  86. 

1  Sixty-eighth  annual  report,  1911-12. 


158  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

fifty  per  cent  of  the  poverty,  and  unemployment 
the  cause  of  twenty-five  per  cent.  "  Intemperance 
appeared  to  account  for  less  than  two  per  cent  of 
dependency  in  these  families." 

The  figures  which  we  have  quoted,  startling  as 
they  are,  portray  only  a  part  of  the  situation. 
Those  who  applied  for  aid  were  wholly  "down 
and  out."  There  are  many  other  families  whose 
income  barely  enables  them  to  keep  from  being 
submerged.  They  must  have  the  scanty  wages 
which  their  children  earn,  and  society  pays  the 
penalty  for  its  neglect. 

The  menace  of  poverty  to  good  citizenship  has 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  thoughtful.  Illi- 
nois recently  passed  a  law  providing  pensions  for 
widows  with  children,  the  sum  received  to  in- 
crease with  each  child.  Lloyd-George's  plan  for 
insuring  against  sickness  and  unemployment  also 
serves  to  protect  society  from  immediate  disaster 
to  its  members. 

If  the  schools  take  the  position  in  the  commu- 
nity which  we  are  advocating,  they  can  ascertain 
the  causes  of  truancy  and  withdrawal  and  present 
the  facts  with  such  convincing  arguments  that 
public-spirited  men  and  women  will  revolt  against 
conditions  which  inevitably  doom  so  many  future 
citizens  to  unmerited  ignorance  and  squalor.  But  in- 
stead of  this  the  truant  officer  is  sent  to  the  homes. 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     159 

Belief  in  educational  obligations  beyond  mere 
instruction  set  the  principal  of  School  4,  in  the 
Bronx,  to  thinking.  "One  of  the  serious  defects 
from  which  we  suffer  in  our  educational  systems 
is  the  absence  of  the  parents  in  the  educational 
process,"  was  the  way  it  came  to  him.  To  be 
sure,  there  are  parents'  associations  which  meet 
occasionally  in  the  school  buildings.  There  is  one 
in  connection  with  School  4.  But  they  do  not 
meet  the  situation.  The  principal  saw  this  and  so 
he  decided  to  try  a  school  "visitor."  As  there 
was  no  money  available  for  the  purpose,  he  used 
a  part  of  his  own  salary.  The  "visitor"  became 
acquainted  with  the  families  of  the  children  so 
that  she  might  deal  with  them  on  the  basis  of 
friendship.  The  fact  that  she  was  not  a  mem- 
ber of  the  teaching  staff  gave  the  parents  a  dif- 
ferent feeling  toward  her.  She  also,  for  the  same 
reason,  could  take  a  different  attitude  toward 
them.  Their  children  had  not  been  on  her  nerves 
all  day. 

The  results  of  this  experiment  suggest  various 
ways  of  extending  the  influence  of  the  school. 
The  interest  of  the  community  in  this  particular 
school  has  greatly  increased.  Families  move  about 
within  the  district,  but  will  not  leave  it  because 
they  wish  to  remain  a  part  of  the  school  group. 
The  parents  of  the  neighborhood  have  grown  more 


160  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

conscious  of  their  share  in  the  physical  and  men- 
tal development  of  their  children,  and  the  teachers 
have  gained  an  insight  into  social  conditions  which 
has  greatly  strengthened  the  work  of  the  school. 
Many  times  the  "visitor"  has  been  able  to  advise 
parents  regarding  matters  which  concern  the  health 
and  future  success  of  their  children.  Whether  the 
boy  should  remain  in  school  another  year  is,  of 
course,  a  frequent  query.  Incorrigible  and  back- 
ward children  have  been  taken  to  eminent  physi- 
cians for  examination,  and  in  several  instances 
the  mental  and  moral  natures  of  these  youngsters 
have  undergone  radical  transformation. 

If  school  officials  say  that  it  is  not  their  busi- 
ness to  enter  the  home  and  advise  parents  about 
their  duties  to  their  children,  the  question  may  be 
very  properly  asked,  Whose  work  is  it  ?  The  chil- 
dren of  these  people  are  among  those  whom  the 
schools  are  expected  to  educate,  and  they  are  not 
doing  it  because  the  parents  withdraw  them  as 
soon  as  the  law  permits.  If  the  mature  appear- 
ance of  some  boys  enables  their  parents  to  evade 
the  law  by  one  or  two  years,  they  rejoice  in 
having  got  the  better  of  the  school  authorities. 
We  may  say  that  the  loss  is  theirs,  but  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  we  are  trying  to  educate 
rather  than  discipline.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  how- 
ever, the  greatest  loss  is  not  theirs.  Perhaps 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     161 

neither  the  parents  nor  children  will  ever  realize 
that  their  lives  might  have  been  fuller  and  richer. 
The  loss  falls  on  the  nation.  The  country  pays 
the  penalty  in  bad  government  and  criminality 
for  this  shirking  of  duty  by  the  schools. 

But  school  officials  are  not  consistent  in  their 
division  of  duties.  In  several  cities  the  boards 
of  education  are  conducting  evening  lectures  for 
adults  so  that  these  people  may  learn  a  little  of 
what  they  missed  in  childhood.  Why  does  this 
form  of  community  instruction  fall  within  the 
school's  province  more  than  the  other?  We  found 
in  an  earlier  chapter  that  the  schools  have  in- 
vaded the  home  in  respect  to  several  very  per- 
sonal matters  that  concern  the  welfare  of  the  chil- 
dren. And  they  are  justified  in  so  doing  because 
the  physical  defects  to  which  we  refer  obstruct 
educational  and  mental  development.  But  that 
is  exactly  what  parental  ignorance  does  in  the 
matter  of  which  we  have  just  been  speaking. 
Whatever  interferes  with  the  education  of  the 
children  of  the  nation  falls  within  the  limits  of 
the  duties  of  the  school  officials,  and  they  are 
recalcitrant  if  they  fail  to  investigate  and  remedy 
them. 

Boston  has  recognized  this  claim  in  at  least  one 
line.  The  board  of  education  has  assumed  control 
of  all  licensed  minors — children  between  eleven 
and  fourteen  years  of-  age.  No  unlicensed  child 


162  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

under  fourteen  is  allowed  to  engage  in  any  of  the 
occupations  usually  open  to  boys.  Regular  at- 
tendance at  school  is  essential  to  secure  a  license. 
A  few  years  ago  the  licensed  newsboys  organized 
the  "Boston  Newsboys'  Association,"  with  elective 
captains  and  lieutenants.  This  brought  about  a 
great  improvement  in  the  social  sentiment  of  the 
boys,  just  as  we  have  already  found  happening 
in  pupil-governed  schools.  At  its  third  annual 
meeting  the  association  passed  a  resolution  re- 
questing the  establishment  of  a  newsboys'  court. 
The  character  of  the  resolution  prepared  by  the 
boys  is  so  suggestive  of  the  opportunities  awaiting 
school  officials  who  are  more  interested  in  educa- 
ting children  than  in  quibbling  over  the  boun- 
daries of  their  work  that  we  quote  it  in  full : 

RESOLUTIONS  IN  FAVOR  OF  A  NEWSBOYS'  COURT  > 

Whereas,  so  many  newsboys  get  into  court  every  year 
for  petty  violations  of  the  law  either  through  ignorance  or 
thoughtlessness,  or  failure  to  realize  the  consequences,  and 
thereby  bring  discredit  and  shame  upon  themselves,  their 
families,  and  fellow-newsboys,  and  whereas  the  majority  of 
the  newsboys  who  thus  get  into  court  are  mere  children; 

Be  it  Resolved,  That  we,  the  newsboys  of  Boston,  in  mass 
meeting  assembled  at  Keith's  Theatre  on  Bunker  Hill  Day, 
June  17,  1910,  do  publicly  declare  in  favor  of  establishing  a 
Newsboys'  Court  in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, which  court  shall  deal  with  all  first  offenders 
against  the  rules  and  regulations  governing  their  trade.  We 
invite  the  co-operation  of  all  public  departments  concerned. 

'"Annual  Report  of  the  Superintendent,"  Boston,  July,  1910,  p.  135. 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     163 

The  Board  of  Education  at  once  granted  the 
request,  and  the  plan  as  finally  put  into  operation 
established  a  trial  board  consisting  of  five  mem- 
bers. Two  of  these  are  adults,  annually  appointed 
by  the  school  committee,  and  three  are  newsboys, 
elected  annually  by  the  members  of  the  News- 
boys' Association  from  among  their  captains. 

"The  cases  coming  before  the  trial  board  are  in- 
teresting and  varied.  The  complaints  range  from 
selling  without  a  badge,  or  after  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  or  selling  on  street-cars,  to  bad  conduct, 
irregular  school  attendance,  gambling,  or  smoking. 
The  disposition  of  these  cases  varies  from  repri- 
mands and  warnings  to  probation  or  suspension 
of  license  for  a  definite  period,  or  complete  revo- 
cation of  license."  1  The  "republic"  settles  dis- 
agreements among  its  members.  Through  its 
court  and  officers  it  enforces  the  requirements  of 
the  ordinance  regarding  the  work  of  the  boys. 
The  members  have  made,  and  in  some  instances 
remade,  the  rules  over  which  they  have  direct 
control.  In  matters  beyond  their  jurisdiction  they 
have  secured  changes  through  petition. 

One  of  the  significant  developments  of  this  news- 
boys' republic  is  the  interest  taken  in  the  work  by 
the  parents  of  the  boys.  In  a  number  of  cases 
the  parents  of  those  brought  before  the  court  for 

1  "Annual  Report  of  the  School  Committee,  Boston,  1910,"  p.  44. 


164  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

trial  have  expressed  their  appreciation  of  the  in- 
terest taken  in  their  children.  The  boys,  in  turn, 
have  discovered  that  the  schools  are  for  them  and 
not  against  them.  This  change  in  feeling  has 
greatly  improved  their  school-work  and  attend- 
ance. Their  new  point  of  view  is  illustrated, 
among  other  ways,  in  their  efforts  to  advance 
those  members  who  have  reached  the  age  of  grad- 
uation from  the  occupation  of  newsboys.  They 
have  even  secured  scholarships  in  several  higher 
educational  institutions  as  well  as  in  business 
schools. 

The  results  gained  through  the  newsboys'  re- 
public illustrates  again  the  tremendous  strength 
and  versatility  of  primitive  instincts.  Put  edu- 
cation in  opposition  to  them  and  endless  strife 
ensues.  Under  these  circumstances  the  boy  is  in 
continual  mental  resistance  to  the  civilized  regime 
against  which  his  primitive  nature  rebels.  Ally 
these  instincts  with  you  in  the  educative  process, 
and  development  acquires  the  added  momentum 
of  racial  energy.  How  great  this  energy  is  may 
be  judged  from  the  untiring  activity  of  boys  en- 
gaged in  work  which  taps  these  impulses. 

This  newsboys'  republic  of  twenty-five  hundred 
members  is  a  sample  of  the  social  opportunities 
for  extending  the  influence  of  the  schools.  That 
is  our  reason  for  speaking  of  it  at  some  length. 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     165 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  such  means  of  gaining 
the  support  of  those  who  are  inclined  to  be  sus- 
picious of  the  purposes  of  the  school  are  not  more 
frequently  utilized.  School  officials  are  still  too 
busy  polishing  the  old  machine,  so  that  it  may 
run  smoothly  and  not  disturb  the  community 
with  the  noise  of  friction,  to  give  much  attention 
to  winning  the  boys  of  the  street.  Nearly  every 
important  duty  beyond  instruction  which  the 
schools  have  assumed  has  been  undertaken  only 
after  long  agitation  by  laymen.  Not  until  the 
demands  of  the  community  have  become  irresist- 
ible have  the  authorities  yielded.  This  was  the 
case  with  medical  inspection  of  pupils  and  with 
school  nurses.  The  establishment  of  special  schools 
for  backward  children  was  delayed  until  the  pop- 
ular demand  became  a  menace.  Even  now  few 
towns  have  them,  and  in  cities  where  they  are 
found  the  number  is  wholly  inadequate  to  the 
needs.  When  the  public  will  no  longer  brook  re- 
fusal, reforms  are  instituted  and  the  next  decade 
is  spent  in  extolling  the  progress.  The  few  cases 
in  which  schools  have  advanced  without  popular 
demand — those,  for  example,  which  have  estab- 
lished pupil-government — are  explained  by  free- 
dom from  the  restraint  of  the  superintendent's 
office.  "The  best  thing  that  I  can  say  about  our 
superintendent  is  that  he  leaves  me  alone,"  re- 


166  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

marked  the  principal  of  a  really  progressive  school 
in  a  large  city.  And  then  he  added,  "It  gives  me 
a  chance  to  do  things."  Unfortunately,  not  many 
superintendents  are  sufficiently  acquainted  with 
the  method  of  progress  to  know  that  freedom  to 
initiate  is  its  prerequisite.  Most  superintendents 
run  a  school  as  they  would  drive  a  stage.  Teachers 
must  keep  abreast  and  trot  at  equal  pace.  The 
reins  are  held  in  the  office,  and  whenever  a  prin- 
cipal discovers  an  idea  and  turns  his  head  toward 
it,  he  is  pulled  back  into  the  road.  The  method 
of  the  "safe"  superintendent  eliminates  intelli- 
gence. 

Since  the  schools,  instead  of  leading  in  educa- 
tional thought,  follow  the  voice  of  the  public,  com- 
munities should  organize  so  as  to  make  intelligent 
demands.  School  leagues  should  be  established  to 
do  for  education  what  civic  leagues  accomplish 
for  municipal  government.  Civic  leagues  attract 
the  intelligent,  public-spirited  men.  Through  their 
committees  they  investigate  municipal  problems, 
and  when  facts  are  gathered  the  campaign  for 
reform  is  a  terror  to  reactionaries.  School  leagues 
would  focus  the  intelligent  thought  of  the  com- 
munity. They  could  send  experts  to  visit  schools 
in  which  new  plans  are  being  worked  out,  and 
through  the  creation  of  public  sentiment  force 
boards  of  education  to  keep  schools  at  a  high 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     167 

degree  of  efficiency.  It  may  be  said  that  all  this 
can  be  accomplished  through  the  visits  of  super- 
intendents, but,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  school 
officials  are  not  always  the  best  judges  of  educa- 
tional progress.  Their  educational  environment 
has  run  their  thoughts  into  moulds  which  can  be 
broken  only  by  the  sledge-hammer  of  public  opin- 
ion. Besides,  if  one  be  found  who  desires  to  pro- 
gress, he  is  often  afraid  to  trust  his  principals  and 
teachers  with  new  tools.  At  times  superintend- 
ents frankly  say  that  the  new  plan  would  be 
excellent  if  their  teachers  were  equal  to  it.  The 
policy  of  depriving  teachers  of  freedom  to  initiate 
tends  to  produce  an  artificial  selection  of  inca- 
pables  who  remain  in  the  profession  because  they 
do  not  know  what  else  to  do  for  a  living.  If 
public  sentiment  through  school  leagues  were  to 
force  the  adoption  of  better  methods  in  the  schools, 
incapables  would  be  rapidly  eliminated  and  intelli- 
gence would  be  in  demand.  Young  men  and 
women  would  then  enter  the  work  because  of  the 
opportunity  offered  to  think,  to  experiment,  and 
to  create. 

Besides  interesting  the  community  in  the 
schools  and  forcing  progress,  these  leagues  would 
give  opportunity  to  efficient  superintendents  to 
arouse  public  sentiment  for  the  things  that  they 
wish  to  do.  Superintendents  are  not  always  to 


168  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

blame  for  their  failures.  The  board  of  education 
must  be  reckoned  with.  The  board  is  an  oli- 
garchy nominally  responsible  to  the  people,  but 
actually  answerable  to  no  one.  Its  decisions  are 
rarely  questioned  because  no  one  is  sufficiently  in- 
terested to  investigate.  The  school  league  could 
reduce  these  men  to  their  proper  place  as  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people.  How  well  the  plan  may 
work  was  shown  in  a  small  town  in  Missouri. 
The  board  had  transferred  an  unusually  efficient 
primary  teacher  to  an  advanced  grade  in  order 
to  find  a  place  for  the  daughter  of  one  of  its 
members.  The  civic  league,  assuming  for  the 
time  the  functions  of  a  school  league,  asked  the 
board  for  a  joint  meeting.  As  a  result  of  the  con- 
ference, at  which  a  few  facts  and  opinions  were 
plainly  stated  by  members  of  the  league,  nepotism 
was  nicely  aired.  The  people  of  this  town  now 
know  what  nepotism  means  and  how  it  affects  the 
school.  No  member  of  the  school  board  will  dare 
to  repeat  the  offence.  The  people  have  awakened. 
Public  interest  in  the  schools  can  accomplish 
wonders  when  it  is  organized.  Had  there  been 
a  strong  school  league  in  Baltimore  when  the 
mayor  recently  forced  out  an  efficient  superintend- 
ent without  waiting  for  the  report  of  a  committee 
of  experts  already  appointed  by  the  board,  the 
citizens  could  have  resisted  the  assault  upon  the 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     169 

integrity  of  their  schools.  To  accomplish  his  pur- 
pose the  mayor  was  obliged  to  remove  three  mem- 
bers of  the  board  of  education,  two  of  them  men 
of  eminence  in  their  profession  and  all  splendid 
representatives  of  the  best  citizens.  The  report 
of  the  committee,  which  consisted  of  the  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Education  and  two  other 
well-known  educators,  afterward  sustained  the  de- 
posed superintendent  in  all  essential  matters.1 
The  weakness  of  the  people's  case  lay  in  lack  of 
organization  for  the  support  of  good  schools. 

We  have  said  that  the  mass  of  the  people  have 
at  best  only  a  perfunctory  interest  in  the  schools. 
The  immediate  cause  of  this  lack  of  enthusiasm 
varies  with  different  classes  of  individuals,  but  the 
underlying  reason  is  that  vigorous  interest  can- 
not exist  apart  from  the  consciousness  of  partici- 
pation in  the  management.  The  people  regard 
the  schools  as  an  independent,  self-perpetuating 
institution  whose  officials  have  only  academic  in- 
terest in  them  and  faint  perception  of  their  re- 
quirements. The  path  leading  to  any  other  point 
of  contact  with  the  schools  than  the  visitor's  chair 
is  so  labyrinthine  and  so  encumbered  with  official 
debris  of  rules,  reports,  and  red  tape  of  the  school 
hierarchy  that  one  must  needs  be  of  the  leisure 

1  For  a  full  statement  of  this  case  see   the   Educational  Review, 
vol.  42,  p.  325. 


170  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

class  to  have  time  to  trace  even  an  easy  ques- 
tion to  the  end  of  the  trail  at  the  superintendent's 
desk.  The  condition  is  not  creditable  to  human 
intelligence. 

The  efficient  remedy  for  this  maladjustment  be- 
tween the  school  and  community  would  be  to  en- 
gage a  principal  and  give  him  power  to  introduce 
such  changes  as,  in  his  judgment,  the  conditions 
in  his  particular  district  make  advisable.  The 
principal  with  a  free  hand  could  co-operate  with 
the  community  in  many  other  ways  besides  those 
which  have  been  suggested.  Through  frequent 
association  and  conference  he  could  ascertain  and 
remedy  the  causes  of  dissatisfaction  with  the 
schools.  Then  if  with  this  freedom  he  does  not 
succeed  in  producing  an  effective  educational  plant, 
he  should  be  replaced  with  another  man,  until 
finally  one  is  found  who  can  build  up  a  great  pub- 
lic school,  the  people's  college  of  the  community. 
That  is  the  way  in  which  business  enterprises  are 
made  efficient.  Would  an  industrial  corporation 
attain  success  if  each  subsidiary  plant  were  lim- 
ited in  its  activities  and  inventions  by  the  main 
office?  The  manager  of  each  mill  knows  that  he  is 
to  be  held  responsible  for  results.  If  he  discovers 
a  better  way  of  doing  things,  the  improvement  is 
credited  to  his  reputation.  This  responsibility 
draws  correspondingly  capable  men.  In  the  public 


THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     171 

schools,  on  the  other  hand,  if  a  principal  is  caught 
trying  to  find  a  more  efficient  educational  process, 
he  is  summoned  to  the  office  to  answer  to  the 
charge  of  doubting  the  pedagogical  wisdom  of  his 
ancestors. 

But  heretics  are  found  even  among  saints,  and 
"social  centres"  with  school  "visitors"  are  the 
outgrowth  of  disbelief  in  the  official  creed.  They 
are  a  protest  against  the  doctrine  of  the  all  suffi- 
ciency of  a  system.  Frequently  they  have  been, 
tolerated  but  not  approved  by  the  "office."  The 
public  demand  to  which  we  have  already  alluded 
has  not  yet  become  threatening  enough  to  be  con- 
vincing. An  organized  body  of  laymen  is  needed 
to  tempt  the  conservatives  to  forsake  their  ances- 
tral cult  and  grow  modern.  That  should  be  the 
work  of  the  school  league.  The  name  is  unimpor- 
tant. A  body  of  intelligent  men  representative 
of  the  racial  and  social  groups  in  the  community 
is  what  is  wanted. 

The  diversity  of  interests  which  has  accompa- 
nied the  industrial  progress  of  the  last  twenty-five 
years  has  broken  community  bonds.  Immigra- 
tion has  separated  cities  and  country  alike  into 
polycentric,  if  not  mutually  repellent,  groups,  each 
racial  division  following  its  own  leader  in  the  strug- 
gle to  maintain  its  traditional  standards  of  life  and 
education.  A  unifying  purpose  is  needed.  Other- 


172  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

wise  education  becomes  the  foot-ball  of  contesting 
factions.  This  purpose  the  school,  as  a  strictly 
non-partisan  and  non-racial  institution,  is  espe- 
cially fitted  to  supply.  We  have  referred  briefly 
to  some  of  the  plans  which  have  been  tried.  The 
problem  is  one  that  admits  only  of  experimental 
solution,  and  school  officials  can  no  longer  ignore 
their  responsibility. 


CHAPTER  V 
VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL 

IT  is  strange  that  backward  and  defective  chil- 
dren should  be  the  first  to  have  their  education 
adapted  to  their  individual  requirements.  They 
have  their  own  special  schools  in  which  each 
pupil  is  studied  so  that  he  may  be  taught  in  the 
way  best  suited  to  his  needs.  Meanwhile  the 
bright  youngsters  are  left  to  glean  what  educa- 
tion they  can  from  the  rules  and  facts  measured 
out  with  scrupulous  exactness  for  the  capacity  of 
the  "average  child"  who  has  only  pedagogical 
existence.  It  is  the  old  story  of  mental  inertia 
over  again  in  another  form.  The  unusual  is  what 
attracts  attention.  People  shudder  at  the  recital 
of  a  railroad  wreck  in  which  twenty-five  human 
beings  lose  their  lives,  yet  neglect  to  remedy  evils 
which  claim  a  yearly  tribute  of  one  hundred  times 
as  many  lives  as  all  the  annual  railroad  disasters 
of  the  world. 

In  the  same  way  the  occasional,  abnormal  child 
awakens  sympathy  and  stirs  to  action.  But  why 
should  bright  children  be  allowed  to  suffer  be- 

173 


174  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

cause  of  this  freakishness  of  our  minds  in  standing 
aghast  at  the  uncommon?  Is  man  so  completely 
enslaved  by  his  primitive  nature  that  he  can  never 
turn  his  mind  from  the  bizarre  and  examine  the 
commoner  things  of  life?  Can  he  never  learn  to 
take  an  inventory  of  the  stock  of  social  values 
and  estimate  the  comparative  worth  of  each?  I 
do  not  mean  to  decry  the  duty  of  society  to  its 
unfortunate  members,  but  I  insist  that  bright 
children  should  not  receive  less  care  than  those 
who  are  mentally  deficient.  Yet  they  do.  The 
schools  for  abnormal  children  are  superior  in  every 
respect  to  those  designed  for  normal  youngsters. 

Probably  no  one  would  maintain  that  defective 
children  are  a  more  valuable  social  asset  than 
bright  ones.  Yet  society  acts  as  though  they 
were.  We  make  elaborate  preparations  for  the 
education  of  the  blind,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and 
the  weak-minded.  The  classes  in  these  schools 
are  reduced  in  size  to  the  number  which  experi- 
ence has  shown  can  be  effectively  taught  in  one 
group  and  higher  salaries  secure  better  teachers 
than  those  engaged  to  instruct  "normal"  chil- 
dren. 

Lest  I  may  be  misunderstood,  I  repeat  that 
we  should  continue  to  do  everything  that  we  are 
doing  for  the  unfortunates  who  begin  life  so  heav- 
ily handicapped.  No  society  can  prosper  without 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  175 

the  spirit  of  sympathy.  But  I  ask  again,  are  not 
the  ordinarily  intelligent  and  bright  children  de- 
serving of  equally  thoughtful  training? 

Our  educational  inconsistency,  however,  does 
not  end  here.  There  is  still  another  class  of  chil- 
dren to  whom,  as  we  have  observed,  the  public 
schools  are  beginning  to  give  a  little  individual 
attention.  This  is  the  truants  and  incorrigibles. 
Their  schools  are  so  rare  that  they  would  hardly 
be  worth  mentioning  were  it  not  for  the  evidence 
which  they  give  of  the  almost  miraculous  mental 
and  social  reconstruction  of  which  children  are 
capable.  These  truant  schools  are  at  best  only 
moderately  altered  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  re- 
bellious lads,  but  that  makes  the  testimony  all 
the  more  convincing.  A  few  illustrative  cases 
may  be  cited. 

A  nine-year-old  boy  whose  escapades  in  steal- 
ing had  won  for  him  the  newspaper  notoriety  of 
being  "a  rare  specimen  of  juvenile  depravity," 
while  in  the  hospital  school  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  read  books  like  Mark  Twain's 
"The  Prince  and  the  Pauper"  and  Andrew  Lang's 
fairy  tales.  Once  he  came  to  the  desk  and  asked 
for  Kipling's  "Five  Nations."  When 'the  attend- 
ant told  him  that  it  was  poetry,  and  that  she 
did  not  think  he  would  like  it,  he  answered,  "No, 
I  don't  want  no  poetry.  I  thought  it  was  his- 


176  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

tory."  After  he  had  read  aloud  a  selection  from 
George  Eliot's  "Mill  on  the  Floss,"  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  attendant,  to  determine  how  well  he 
could  read,  he  asked  in  a  whisper,  "May  I  take 
the  book  and  finish  that?"  1 

Sam,  "aged  fourteen,  was  both  a  truant  and 
incorrigible.  For  the  first  few  weeks  he  per- 
sisted in  leaving  his  seat,  walking  about  the  room, 
and  talking  every  minute  of  the  time,  except  when 
fighting  his  neighbor.  His  main  purpose  seemed 
to  be  to  be  saucy  to  his  teacher  and  to  let  every- 
body know  that  he^  had  no  fear  of  punishment. 
He  knew  absolutely  nothing.  He  could  not  read 
and  would  not  consent  to  try.  He  would  grow  ugly 
if  I  made  the  mistake  of  asking  him  to  do  so.  I 
found  out  that  he  liked  arithmetic  because  he 
knew  a  little  more  about  such  work.  I  gave  him 
twice  as  many  examples  as  the  others,  assuring 
him  that  if  he  could  read  as  well  as  he  could 
cipher  he  might  stand  highest  in  the  class.  He 
waited  after  school  every  day  for  private  help.  I 
began  with  the  blackboard  and  a  first  reader; 
later,  a  second  reader.  In  six  or  seven  weeks  he 
had  mastered  the  subject.  To-day  he  will  read 
any  book  he  can  lay  a  hand  on.  .  .  .  The  other 
day  he  handed  me  an  old  blank  book  and  said: 
'Please  write  in  here  the  things  you  said  about 

1  "Psychological  Clinic,"  vol.  IV,  p.  237. 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  177 

me.     My  father  doesn't  think  it's  true  that  I  am 
a  good  boy.'"  * 

When  the  school  for  truant  and  incorrigible  boys 
was  opened  in  New  York  City,  "Philip,  thirteen 
years  of  age,  was  placed  high  on  the  eligible  list. 
.  .  .  He  was  a  chronic  truant,  and,  at  the  time  of 
his  transfer,  was  a  vagrant,  not  having  slept  at 
home  for  some  time.  It  took  two  attendance  offi- 
cers and  two  teachers  three  weeks  to  find  the  boy 
and  bring  him  into  school.  He  remained  about 
two  hours  and  then  ran  out,  and  was  gone  for 
another  week.  Finally  he  was  brought  back 
again,  and  this  time  he  remained.  About  four 
weeks  later,  during  which  time  he  had  not  played 
truant  once,  and  in  several  other  ways  had  shown 
a  desire  to  do  well,  he  went  to  the  principal's 
office,  where  the  following  conversation  took 
place: 

"Philip:  'Say,  Miss  Jones,  there's  two  fellers  on 
my  street  what  don't  go  ter  school.  If  I  make 
'em  come,  will  yer  take  'em  in  ? ' 

"Principal:  'Why  don't  they  go  to  school?' 
"Philip:  'They  ain't  been  in  no  school  in  a  long 
while.' 

"Principal:  'Where  did  they  go  to  school?' 
"Philip:  'They  didn't  go   ter  no  public;  they 

1  "The  Incorrigible  Child,"  by  Julia  Richman,  Educational  Review, 
vol.  31,  p.  496. 


178  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

went  ter  de  Brudders'.  Say,  Miss  Jones,  won't 
yer  take  'em  in  if  I  make  'em  come?' 

"Principal:  'You  can't  make  them  come.' 

"Philip:  'Now,  never  yer  mind  what  I  can  do. 
Will  yer  take  'em  in  if  I  make  'em  come?' 

"Principal:  Til  take  them.' 

"And  he  went  off.  The  next  morning  he  came 
into  Miss  Jones's  office  and  literally  threw  two 
boys  at  her,  having  brought  them  into  the  school 
holding  each  by  the  collar.  Their  home  was  fully 
half  a  mile  from  the  school. 

"'Here's  them  two  fellers.  Didn't  I  tell  yer  I 
could  bring  'em?' 

"The  two  boys  upon  investigation  were  found 
to  have  been  away  from  school  for  seven  months 
spending  their  entire  time  upon  the  street." l 
They  were  at  first  irregular  in  attendance,  but 
soon  settled  down  to  the  same  regularity  that 
Philip  was  following. 

If  recognition  of  the  individuality  of  semi- 
criminal  lads  with  no  social  position  to  maintain 
produces  such  amazing  results,  are  the  individ- 
ual differences  of  "normal"  children  likely  to  be 
less  responsive  to  environment?  In  other  words, 
should  not  the  schools  give  as  good  a  chance  to 
the  boys  who  have  not  won  social  distinction  by 
crime  ? 

1  Julia  Richman,  loc.  cit.,  pp.  492-3. 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  179 

The  influence  of  environment  in  mind-building 
has  been  still  further  investigated  in  various 
junior  republics,  to  some  of  which  reference  has 
already  been  made.  The  objection  may  be  raised 
here  that  the  boys  in  these  republics  are  under 
the  constant  care  of  the  teachers.  This,  however, 
is  not  true  of  truant  classes,  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  also  offer  striking  examples.  The  evidence 
shows  that  even  in  the  republics  it  is  not  con- 
tinuous contact  with  the  children  so  much  as  the 
method  employed  which  has  worked  the  change. 
The  teachers  in  these  institutions  do  not  secure 
their  results  by  direct  magisterial  intervention  in 
the  behavior  of  their  pupils.  Those  in  charge 
have  discovered  the  way  to  organize  children  so 
that  principles  of  conduct  may  arise  from  their 
own  social  relations,  and  they  have  learned,  in 
addition,  that  the  only  justification  for  the  exist- 
ence of  a  system  of  education  is  to  train  the 
individual  children  who  enter  it.  Public-school 
officials  have  missed  both  of  these  truths.  So  in- 
flexible is  their  system  that  it  would  break  were  it 
bent  to  meet  the  needs  of  individual  children.  The 
thought  terrifies  many  superintendents.  Their 
system  is  their  personal  asset,  and  if  it  is  lost  they 
are  bankrupt.  The  only  concession,  therefore, 
which  they  are  willing  to  make  is  the  truant 
school.  This  is  regarded  as  a  sort  of  mind-cure 


180  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

establishment  for  the  treatment  of  lads  who  need 
to  be  mentally  toned  up,  so  that  they  may  be 
able  to  stand  the  school  regime.  The  possibility 
of  the  regime  itself  being  at  fault  is  rarely  ad- 
mitted "officially,"  though  in  private  conversa- 
tion one  hears  all  manner  of  dissatisfaction.  After 
the  "cure"  of  the  truant  school,  a  boy  is  returned 
to  his  regular  class  to  make  room  for  another 
pedagogical  invalid,  and  the  same  merry  round 
of  truancy  and  incorrigibility  is  repeated  until 
finally  the  legal  age  for  withdrawal  from  school  is 
reached  and  the  lad  is  turned  loose  upon  society 
without  having  received  any  appreciable  influ- 
ence from  the  schools  which  the  nai've  public  have 
thought  were  intended  to  train  citizens.  "Six- 
tenths  of  our  children,"  remarked  a  principal  in 
one  of  our  large  cities,  "leave  school  at  the  ear- 
liest possible  opportunity  with  habits  that  are 
vicious  and  knowledge  that  is  just  a  step  removed 
from  illiteracy." 

The  republics  for  criminally  inclined  children 
originated  in  the  refusal  of  these  youngsters  to 
be  turned  in  the  common  pedagogic  lathe.  As 
this  class  is  immune  to  the  conventional  idea- 
palsies  of  people  in  good  standing,  the  traditional 
belief  in  the  omniscience  of  the  school-master  does 
not  charm  them.  Consequently  these  children 
instinctively  fight  to  preserve  their  individuality, 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  181 

unconscious  that  they  are  thus  avoiding  respec- 
table mediocrity. 

The  revolt  of  these  little  social  outcasts  has 
made  a  new  educational  epoch.  Of  course,  the 
event  has  not  as  yet  greatly  affected  the  schools. 
The  twenty  years  of  success,  during  which  the  re- 
volt has  attained  the  dignity  of  a  revolution,  is 
too  brief  a  period  for  the  education  of  all  the  edu- 
cators. A  few  parents,  however,  whose  boys  have 
not  engaged  in  enough  crimes  to  enable  them  to 
"pass  the  examination"  popularly  thought  to  be 
set  for  entrance  to  these  junior  republics,  have 
procured  their  admission  "with  conditions,"  since 
the  fathers  felt  that  their  boys  should  not  be  de- 
prived of  the  superior  advantages  of  these  insti- 
tutions merely  because  they  lacked  the  finer  crim- 
inal touch.  Parents  occasionally  send  their  sons 
to  Freeville  to  prepare  them  for  college  so  that 
they  may  obtain  a  few  ideas  along  with  their 
"education." 

The  educational  revolt  of  the  more  aggressively 
individualistic  lads  of  whom  we  have  been  speak- 
ing has  brought  its  reward.  Their  training  was 
taken  out  of  the  hands  of  professional  educators. 
These  forerunners  of  the  new  educational  Renais- 
sance know  that  the  writers  of  the  past  were  deal- 
ing with  very  different  conditions  from  those  of 
to-day,  and  they  are  not  unacquainted  with  the 


182  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

knowledge  about  children  which  has  been  gath- 
ered in  recent  years.  But  more  than  all  else,  the 
founders  of  these  junior  republics  are  convinced 
that  systems  of  education  are  designed  for  chil- 
dren, instead  of  children  being  created  that  elab- 
orate educational  systems  may  be  constructed. 
All  this  means  that  they  are  modern.  They  look 
upon  the  history  of  education  as  the  starting-point 
for  fresh  expeditions  of  discovery,  instead  of  a 
place  in  which  to  camp  for  the  remainder  of  their 
lives.  Investigation  and  experiment,  they  believe, 
will  change  old  truths  without  refuting  them;  for 
truth  is  not  crystallized  facts.  It  grows  by  tak- 
ing up  within  itself  new  knowledge  which  builds 
into  the  fibre  of  the  truth  and  starts  its  growth 
anew,  so  that  finally  something  different,  yet  not 
contradictory,  is  produced. 

But  the  revolting  youths  have  gained  their 
point  at  the  cost  of  serious  loss  to  more  adaptable 
children.  When  the  seceders  were  recognized  as 
belligerents  and  modern  schools  were  established 
for  them,  the  pressing  necessity  for  reorganizing 
our  public  schools  was  removed.  The  well-to-do 
accept  conventional  ideas  more  readily  than  the 
socially  submerged.  Consequently  tradition  won 
another  victory  when  the  position  was  tacitly 
taken  that,  while  admitting  a  different  educa- 
tional requirement  for  semi-criminal  children, 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  183 

"normal"  lads  are  best  served  by  a  training 
which  has  stood  the  test  of  time.  It  is  doubt- 
ful, however,  whether  parents  will  long  allow  the 
privilege  of  individuality  to  be  limited  to  chil- 
dren of  criminal  prospects. 

But  the  view  that  education  is  more  than  in- 
struction, that  every  child  has  personal  charac- 
teristics which  make  him  a  special  problem,  and 
that  complete  development  is  possible  only  when 
these  individual  qualities  are  discovered  by  the 
teacher  and  utilized  for  growth,  has  been  ac- 
cepted only  in  principle  even  for  incorrigibles,  for 
junior  republics  are  still  so  few  that  many  boys 
are  turned  away.  Yet  most  of  these  applicants 
are  from  the  class  which  does  not  seek  any  edu- 
cation. This  is  a  commentary  on  the  numerous 
withdrawals  from  the  public  schools  as  well  as  on 
their  truancy.  But  many  superintendents  are 
unable  to  see  the  connection  between  successful 
schools  for  wayward  children  and  public  educa- 
tion. Their  imagination  cannot  stretch  so  far. 
The  fact  that  incorrigible  boys  of  the  public  schools 
become  astonishingly  tractable  and  teachable  when 
placed  in  a  stimulating  environment  and  treated 
as  individuals  with  personal  rights  is  persistently 
ignored.  And  yet,  when  they  had  the  opportunity, 
these  same  superintendents,  with  their  composite 
method  of  education,  were  unable  to  exert  effec- 
tive influence  on  this  type  of  boy. 


184  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

The  refusal  of  so  many  school  officials  to  ac- 
cept the  larger  meaning  of  the  achievements  of 
truant  schools  and  junior  republics  is  partly  due 
to  the  difficulties  which  the  admission  would  cause 
them.  If  individual  differences  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  warrant  personal  attention  were 
acknowledged  to  be  common  among  children,  a 
radical  reconstruction  of  the  school  system  would 
logically  follow.  This  reconstruction  is  what  most 
superintendents  wish  to  avoid.  It  would  create 
an  exceedingly  embarrassing  situation  for  them 
because  they  have  nothing  else  to  offer.  All  their 
training  has  been  along  traditional  lines.  The  old 
classification  into  good  and  bad  children  makes  no 
damaging  admissions.  It  is  therefore  "safe."  The 
"good"  are  those  who  do  not  display  their  ennui 
while  the  things  which  they  learned  in  ten  min- 
utes the  week  before  are  being  repeated  each  day 
in  conformity  with  the  pedagogic  slogan,  "drill," 
or  those  who  feign  interest  while  they  flounder,  if 
not  so  bright,  in  an  underbrush  of  ideas  through 
which  they  see  no  light. 

Slow  thinkers  must  hurry  along  in  the  trail  of 
the  phantom  "average,"  to  find  at  the  end  of  the 
year  that  they  have  only  reached  the  camp  of 
the  retarded.  The  appalling  injury  inflicted  upon 
the  children  of  the  nation  by  the  refusal  of  these 
superintendents  to  give  the  youngsters  a  fight- 
ing chance  is  seen  when  the  children  have  oppor~ 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  185 

tunity  to  progress,  each  according  to  his  own 
ability. 

In  the  Santa  Barbara  schools,  as  Caroline  F. 
Burk  1  has  shown,  the  so-called  normal  children, 
i.  e.,  those  who  did  the  usually  required  year's  work, 
were  less  than  half  of  all  the  pupils.  Under  a 
flexible  promotion  system  281  finished  less  than 
the  year's  work  and  185  exceeded  it.  As  all  of 
the  pupils  did  as  much  as  their  ability  and  sur- 
rounding conditions  permitted,  the  conclusion 
seems  inevitable  that  if  the  "  'normal'  children 
had  been  permitted  to  set  the  pace  for  all,  serious 
harm  would  have  been  done  to  the  466,  or  more 
than  half  of  those  in  the  schools." 

The  same  striking  difference  in  the  capacity  of 
children  has  been  shown  in  the  Baltimore  schools 
under  former  Superintendent  Van  Sickle:2 

"The  plan  in  brief  is  to  allow  pupils  who  have 
done  strong  work  in  the  sixth  grade,  with  the 
approval  of  their  parents,  to  take  up  extra  studies 
of  high-school  grade  while  doing  the  regular  work 
of  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  of  the  elemen- 
tary school.  .  .  .  Pupils  who  take  this  work  are 
transferred  to  a  convenient  centre  in  which  enough 
pupils  may  be  gathered  together  to  allow  the  in- 
struction to  be  organized  on  the  departmental 

1  Educational  Review,  March,  1900. 

*"  Provision  for  Gifted  Children  in  Public  Schools,"  by  J.  H. 
Van  Sickle,  Elementary  School  Teacher,  vol.  IO,  p.  357. 


186  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

plan."  Of  the  236  preparatory-school  pupils  who 
graduated  up  to  June,  1910,  "41  were  in  the  high 
school  proper  but  two  years;  120  were  in  the  high 
school  three  years,  and  75,  four  years.  Among 
the  latter  were  57  who  spent  but  one  year — the 
eighth — in  a  preparatory  centre." 

Van  Denburg's  investigation1  of  the  New  York 
City  high  schools  shows  that  only  16  of  a  group 
of  129  boys  and  19  girls  out  of  221,  all  of  whom 
entered  at  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  finished 
on  time. 

The  effect  of  mass-education  is  seen  in  the  re- 
port of  Leonard  Ayres.  In  thirty-one  cities,  taken 
as  a  whole,  "33.7  per  cent  of  the  children,  or  a 
trifle  more  than  one-third,  are  above  normal  age 
for  their  grades."  2  The  result  of  this  retardation 
is  that  "many  retarded  pupils,  finding  them- 
selves at  the  end  of  the  compulsory-attendance 
period  one  or  more  grades  below  the  final  one, 
leave  school  without  completing  the  elementary 
course."  3 

The  question,  however,  involves  much  more 
than  mere  promotion.  The  results  of  an  inves- 
tigation of  retardation  in  three  Chicago  schools 
"indicate  that  what  we  have  been  calling  retar- 
dation is  not  retardation  but  a  course  of  study 

1  "  Elimination  of  Students  in  Public  Secondary  Schools,"  p.  92. 
1  "Laggards  in  Our  Schools,"  p.  48. 
1  Leonard  Ayres,  op.  cit.,  p.  18. 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  187 

unsuited  to  the  powers  of  the  children  who  pur- 
sue it."  l 

The  fate  of  the  rapid  thinkers  is  evidently  not 
less  tragic  than  that  of  the  slow.  At  the  age  when 
their  minds  are  most  alert,  when  they  are  keen  for 
the  conquest  of  new  worlds  of  knowledge,  they  are 
chained  to  the  same  old  mythical  "average"  that 
drags  along  their  stumbling  comrades  who  are 
in  the  rear.  "We  do  not  know  how  to  use  the 
bright  boy's  time,"  writes  a  grammar-school  prin- 
cipal. Five  long  months  are  spent  by  pupils  in 
covering  work  which  they  could  better  do  in  one, 
and  all  because  a  committee  of  adults  has  de- 
cided that  certain  topics  deserve  the  assigned 
amount  of  time.  Meanwhile  the  enthusiasm 
which  was  kindled  at  the  start  gives  way  to 
hatred  for  the  work.  The  brighter  children  learn 
the  schoolish  art  of  adapting  their  gait  to  the 
pace  of  the  slow.  They  would  violate  the  funda- 
mental law  of  their  organism  if  they  did  not,  for 
adaptation  to  surrounding  conditions  is  the  law 
of  life.  So  their  nervous  system  acquires  the 
habit  of  slow  response.  Why  should  they  think 
more  quickly  than  the  quality  of  the  class  re- 
quires? "The  school  is  oblivious  of  individual 
characteristics,"  said  a  principal  of  wide  experi- 

1 "  Retardation  Statistics  of  Three  Chicago  Schools,"  by  Clara 
Schmitt,  Elementary  School  Teacher,  vol.  10,  p.  492. 


188  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

ence.  Then,  after  a  moment's  thought,  he  added : 
"We  have  all  noticed  how  brightness  and  intelli- 
gence begin  to  wear  out  and  to  be  replaced  by  in- 
difference and  sluggishness." 

Superintendents,  generally,  with  true  pedagogic 
fatuity  have  thought  to  solve  the  problem  by  one 
of  their  usual  partial  concessions.  They  have  in- 
troduced half-yearly  promotions.1  "Now,  if  chil- 
dren do  not  advance  as  rapidly  as  their  ability 
warrants,"  they  tell  us,  "the  school  is  not  to 
blame."  But  this  only  lengthens  the  rope  with 
which  bright  children  are  mentally  hobbled.  In- 
deed, in  some  instances  this  half-yearly  promotion 
rule  contains  a  joker  in  the  requirement  that  chil- 
dren to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  must 
be  prepared  for  promotion  in  all  their  studies. 
In  such  cases  retardation  in  one  subject  forces  a 
child  to  repeat  with  dreary  monotony  studies  in 
which  he  already  excels.  A  better  plan  for  mak- 
ing children  hate  study  and  reading  could  hardly 
be  invented.  The  following  instance  is  only  one 
of  many  that  could  be  related : 

A  boy  in  one  of  our  large  towns  had  been  un- 
able to  attend  school  because  of  the  necessity  of 
financing  some  of  the  family's  bills  from  his  small 
earnings.  He  was  so  bright  and  studious  that  he 

1  In  a  very  few  schools  this  plan  is  extended  still  further  by  means 
of  intervening  class  divisions.  This  lessens  the  gap  which  pupils 
must  jump. 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  189 

had  taught  himself  the  simple  processes  of  arith- 
metic. He  had  also  made  good  progress  alone  in 
learning  to  read.  At  twelve  years  of  age  he  could 
see  his  way  through  two  years  of  school,  and  he 
at  once  seized  the  opportunity,  full  of  enthusiasm. 
When  the  writer  learned  of  the  boy,  it  was  found 
that  he  had  already  squandered  in  the  second 
grade  a  goodly  part  of  the  precious  time  which 
he  had  earned  for  study.  The  reason  given  by  the 
principal  was  that  he  was  deficient  in  spelling  and 
language  work.  Yet  the  lad's  worth  was  proven 
not  alone  by  the  progress  which  he  had  made 
through  his  own  efforts  before  entering  school,  but 
also  by  an  amazing  knowledge  of  the  cotton  in- 
dustry. In  reply  to  the  expressions  of  astonish- 
ment at  his  information,  this  twelve-year-old  said : 
"Yes,  I  know  all  about  everything  that  they  do 
in  a  cotton  factory,  but  I  didn't  work  there  very 
long.  I've  farmed  most  of  my  life."  The  injus- 
tice of  such  cases  will  never  be  righted  until  children 
are  allowed  to  advance  in  each  separate  subject  as 
fast  as  their  ability  permits. 

But  we  have  been  considering  only  the  more 
evident  individual  differences  of  rapid  and  slow 
thinking.  The  subtler  personality  hidden  in  the 
impulses,  feelings,  preferences,  prejudices,  and 
latent  powers  of  children  is  not  touched  by  ease 
of  promotion. 


190  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

The  reduction  of  individual  differences  to  a 
fairly  scientific  basis  is  recent.  It  has  been,  of 
course,  always  obvious  that  members  of  the  same 
family  may  differ  widely,  but  these  variations,  so 
far  as  they  have  received  any  attention,  have  usu- 
ally been  ascribed  to  the  presence  or  absence  of 
perseverance  or  of  moral  purpose.  If  a  boy  an- 
noyed his  teacher  instead  of  studying,  it  was  be- 
cause he  was  afflicted  with  rather  more  than  his 
share  of  original  sin.  Of  course  our  forefathers 
did  not  put  it  in  just  this  way.  The  studious 
child  was  not  analyzed.  He  did  not  need  it. 
His  submission  was  accepted  as  a  pleasant  fact. 
Wayward  children  then  as  now  occupied  the 
greater  part  of  the  teacher's  thought.  There  was, 
however,  only  one  way  of  dealing  with  them  and 
that  was  with  stern  discipline.  If  this  did  not 
bring  reformation  it  was  because  Satan  had  secured 
too  firm  a  grip.  Now  that  the  devil  is  dead  we 
have  learned  that  badness  is  often  a  boy's  way  of 
showing  that  he  is  physiologically  incapable  of 
studying  in  the  manner  required  by  his  teacher. 

A  child,  for  example,  may  be  incapable  of  think- 
ing in  visual  terms.  His  memory  images  are  of 
things  heard,  not  seen.  It  is  not  unwillingness  to 
learn  in  some  other  way.  He  is  so  made  that  he 
cannot.  His  whole  nature  rebels  at  doing  the  re- 
quired visual  thinking.  What  shall  he  do?  If  he 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  191 

were  a  psychologist  he  might  experiment  with  his 
classmates  to  learn  whether  he  were  "peculiar," 
whether  his  thoughts  were  made  of  different  stuff 
from  theirs.  He  could  then  petition  the  superin- 
tendent for  a  method  of  instruction  suited  to  his 
individuality.  But,  since  he  is  just  a  boy,  he  fol- 
lows a  more  primitive  method  of  obtaining  redress. 
He  revolts,  and  when  his  teacher  chides  him  for 
inattention  to  the  visual  images  which  seem  so 
apt  he  sulks.  Then  he  is  kept  after  close  of 
school  and  given  another  assortment  of  visual 
ideas  until,  in  sheer  despair,  his  teacher  dismisses 
him  without  having  taught  anything  more  lasting 
than  hatred  for  study.  But  ignorance  of  such  in- 
dividual differences  as  these  is  only  a  part  of  the 
indictment.  Many  teachers  cannot  distinguish 
intelligence  from  stupidity. 

A  few  years  ago  the  writer  studied  the  lives  of 
eminent  men  and  women  to  learn,  if  possible,  to 
what  extent  their  teachers  had  discovered  their 
ability.  Fifty  were  easily  found  who  were  thought 
to  be  stupid  by  their  teachers.1  The  opinion  then 
ventured,  that  the  school  test  of  ability  is  value- 
less because  it  employs  an  artificial  standard  to 
which  all  children  must  conform,  has  since  been 
verified  by  an  investigation  conducted  under  the 
direction  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of 

1  "Mind  in  the  Making,"  chap.  I,  by  Edgar  James  Swift. 


192 


YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 


Labor.1  Fortunately,  as  an  answer  to  those  who 
think  that  men  of  eminence  are  in  a  class  by  them- 
selves and  that  general  conclusions  cannot  be 
drawn  from  their  boyhood,  the  investigation  of 
which  we  are  now  speaking  dealt  with  those  whose 
biographies  will  probably  never  be  written. 

One  hundred  and  eighty  children  were  taken 
at  random  and  their  teachers'  estimates  of  their 
mental  ability  were  compared  with  the  subse- 
quent judgment  of  their  employers.  The  result  is 
shown  in  the  following  table: 


TEACHERS' 

ESTIMATES 

EMPLOYERS 

ESTIMATES 

NUMBER 

PER  CENT 

NUMBER 

PER  CENT 

Bright  

4.7 

26  I 

80 

4-Q.4- 

Average  

86 

4.7.8 

77 

4.2.8 

Dull  

4.7 

26.1 

14. 

7.8 

Total  reported 

1  80 

100.0 

1  80 

100.0 

"It  will  be  seen  that  the  employers  considered 
nearly  half  of  these  children  bright,  while  the 
teachers  put  only  a  trifle  over  one-fourth  of  them 
in  this  group,  and  the  employers  classed  only  four- 
teen as  dull,  against  forty-seven  whom  the  teachers 
so  described."  Evidently  the  educational  machine 
needs  overhauling. 

1  "Report  on  Conditions  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners  in  the 
United  States,"  vol.  VII,  p.  122. 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  193 

If  a  boy  becomes  conspicuous  for  incorrigibility, 
or  if  he  is  hopelessly  weak-minded,  he  at  least 
wins  the  distinction  of  being  a  "special  case." 
But  if  he  is  only  intelligent  without  any  special 
aptitude  for  crime,  he  is  denied  the  privilege  of  in- 
dividuality. He  must  fit  into  the  composite  mind- 
transformer  as  best  he  can.  The  supposition  is, 
of  course,  that  his  very  normality  makes  it  easier 
for  him  to  go  through  the  pedagogical  contortions. 
"It  is  awfully  tiresome  getting  ready  to  be  a  man," 
sighed  a  boy  of  ten  not  long  ago.  "I  guess  I 
wasn't  born  right  because  my  way  is  always 
wrong.  I  asked  teacher  yesterday  if  I  couldn't 
make  the  geography  lesson  out-of-doors  with 
water.  It  was  about  rivers,  you  know;  but  she 
said  I  must  study  the  book.  I  told  her  I  had 
studied  it.  Then  she  said  the  other  fellows  would 
want  to  go  if  I  did,  so  I  couldn't.  It's  funny  how 
teachers  always  want  fellows  to  do  the  same  thing 
when  they  are  made  different." 

This  lad's  intuition  caused  him  to  feel  the 
misfit  which  he  could  not  analyze.  Children  with 
inherited  tendencies  to  motor  reactions  are  put 
under  the  same  scholastic  regimen  as  those  whose 
racial  heritage  draws  them  more  easily  to  their 
books.  Periods  in  ontogenetic  development  have 
no  rights  that  conflict  with  the  course  of  study. 
The  curriculum  is  sacred.  It  has  been  so  long  an 


194  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

established  fact  that  we  have  forgotten  the  reason 
for  its  existence.  Periods  in  the  growth  of  chil- 
dren received  scant  courtesy  when  it  was  made. 
Harmony  in  the  structure  of  the  document  was 
the  first  consideration,  and  the  relation  of  the  va- 
rious subjects  of  study  to  one  another  was  the 
guiding  principle.  Thus  formal  grammar  must 
come  early  so  as  to  get  it  out  of  the  way  of  other 
languages.  Besides,  belief  in  the  need  of  gram- 
mar as  a  prerequisite  for  the  enjoyment  of  litera- 
ture has  long  been  a  pedagogical  obsession.  So  it 
is  placed  at  an  early  age  when  children  are  men- 
tally least  suited  to  it.  In  history  the  possibil- 
ity of  separating  the  topics  so  that  adventurous 
periods  may  be  studied  when  children  thirst  for 
action  has  never  been  seriously  considered.  That 
would  disturb  the  unity  of  the  educational  scheme. 
Ask  for  the  reason  of  the  position  in  the  curric- 
ulum of  any  subject  and  the  same  fact  is  evident. 
Nascent  periods  of  development  had  no  part  in 
it.  Tradition  rules.  When  a  display  of  progress 
requires  the  introduction  of  new  studies,  the  stages 
of  mental  growth  are  again  left  out  of  account. 
Logical  sequence  of  subjects  is  the  superficial 
guide;  but  since,  in  this  case,  sequence  depends 
upon  the  inherited  method  of  treatment,  tradi- 
tion remains  the  controlling  force.  If  one  were 
to  judge  from  the  school  schedule,  the  subjects 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  195 

of  study  must  have  been  produced  in  unaltera- 
ble succession  immediately  after  the  division  of 
the  land  from  the  waters,  and  then  children  created 
to  fit  them.  The  individual  differences,  as  well 
as  developmental  changes,  in  children  are  wholly 
ignored.  The  result  is  that  pupils  leave  school 
as  soon  as  they  can.  If  forced  by  their  parents 
to  remain,  their  chief  benefit  comes  from  associa- 
tion with  their  fellows  and  from  learning  the  art 
of  appearing  wise  with  little  knowledge.  "If  we 
persist  in  our  inexcusable  failure  to  provide  such 
variations  during  the  last  years  of  our  so-called 
elementary  course,  when  individual  differences  ap- 
pear with  unmistakable  and  increasing  force,  we 
may  expect  boys  and  girls  to  continue  as  they 
now  do  to  seek  in  the  more  tolerable  occupations 
of  the  street,  factory,  shop,  office,  and  mercantile 
house  the  kind  of  interests  for  which  they  feel 
an  instinctive  though  vaguely  defined  need."  l 

Forced  conformity  to  a  system  of  education  in- 
herited from  a  time  when  individual  differences 
and  developmental  changes  had  not  been  inves- 
tigated, and  when  the  power  of  racial  instincts  as 
an  educational  force  was  not  understood,  is  the 
fate  of  children  whose  minds  are  not  cut  by  the 
pattern  in  the  superintendent's  office.  But  no 

1"  Getting  Our  Bearings  on  Industrial  Education,"  by  Jesse  D. 
Burk,  Elementary  School  Teacher,  vol.  9,  pp.  450-1. 


196  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

minds  are  made  on  that  plan,  since  the  pedagogical 
tailors  did  not  think  of  individual  children.  Their 
purpose  was  to  supply  an  education  which  would 
be  accepted  by  the  greatest  number  of  customers. 
So  they  made  a  composite  pattern  which  should 
fit  those  of  a  certain  age,  provided  they  were  like 
the  pattern.  But,  unlike  venders  of  ready-made 
clothing,  they  refuse  to  alter  their  goods  to  meet 
the  needs  of  patrons,  for  there  is  an  ancient  dogma 
that  teachers  may  compel  children  to  take  the 
education  offered.  It  dates  from  a  period  when 
educational  tailors  were  learning  their  trade,  and 
so  too  much  could  not  be  expected  of  them.  At 
that  time  also  children  were  thought  to  be  made 
according  to  a  common  plan.  The  original  sketch 
of  the  plan  was  all  right,  but  the  devil  took  a 
hand  in  it  before  things  were  finished,  and  that 
has  made  a  lot  of  trouble  for  children  even  to 
the  present  day.  For  teachers  have  been  slow 
to  yield  the  advantage  which  the  devil-idea  gives 
them.  They  use  it  to  strengthen  the  old  tradi- 
tion, giving  them  absolute  educational  authority, 
which  has  been  losing  some  of  its  mystic  power 
in  recent  years.  Of  course  they  employ  a  more 
euphonious  word  to-day.  Incorrigible  sounds  bet- 
ter, but  it  means  the  same  thing.  And  that  is 
what  they  now  call  boys  who  refuse  to  receive  an 
education  which  does  not  fit  them. 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  197 

The  reasons  for  contentment  with  a  general- 
ized education  which  were  valid  in  the  days  of 
our  forefathers  are  no  longer  sufficient.  We  live 
in  a  period  of  investigation  and  experimentation. 
We  can  no  longer  respect  theoretical  conclusions 
about  questions  which  are  amenable  to  the  test 
of  experiment.  Interminable  discussions  of  such 
subjects,  with  a  continuous  performance  of  meta- 
physical decisions  and  reversals  of  these  decisions, 
were  pardonable  during  the  Middle  Ages,  but  they 
are  pathetic  to-day.  Yet  this  is  the  method  of 
many  public-school  superintendents.  The  exper- 
imental method  in  the  solution  of  educational 
problems  is  not  in  favor  with  the  National  Educa- 
tion Association.  Speakers  frequently  appeal  to 
experiments,  but  the  reports  of  the  association's 
committees  on  courses  of  study  and  methods 
have  the  dogmatic  certainty  of  the  proceedings 
of  mediaeval  church  councils. 

The  attitude  of  the  National  Association  to- 
ward educational  experiments  and  the  office-chair 
method  of  settling  questions  which  is  followed 
by  its  committees  have  given  many  inefficient 
superintendents  ground  for  believing  that  they 
are  modern.  The  stimulus  to  investigate  and  to 
progress  which  should  be  given  by  the  highest 
educational  body  in  the  country  is  wholly  lacking. 
The  advice  which  the  association  offers  is  based  on 


198  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

a  generalized  human  nature  which  every  psycholo- 
gist knows  is  often  only  a  schematic  view  of  the 
manner  in  which  man  acts  and  reacts.  The  so- 
called  general  psychology  is  coming  more  and  more 
to  be  separated  into  individual  psychology  and  the 
psychology  of  groups  of  individuals.  We  know 
now  that  the  individual  acts  very  differently  ac- 
cording to  the  group  in  which  he  happens  to  find 
himself,  and  we  have  learned  that  different  persons 
do  not  always  react  in  the  same  way  to  the  same 
stimulus  or  conditions.  This  is  especially  signifi- 
cant in  education  because  children  are  being 
trained  to  action  and  behavior.  For  this  reason  it 
is  supremely  important  that  the  individual  differ- 
ences of  pupils  be  studied  and  made  the  basis  of 
the  discipline  and  education  which  each  is  to  re- 
ceive. And  it  is  of  no  less  importance  for  "nor- 
mal" and  bright  children  than  for  defectives. 
Retardation,  as  has  already  been  said,  is  often 
caused  by  the  failure  to  take  the  personal  psy- 
chology of  the  child  into  account. 

The  assumption  has  always  been  made  that 
bright  children  can  take  care  of  themselves.  Some 
geniuses  have  succeeded  in  doing  this,  but  they 
have  done  it  by  ignoring  their  teachers  and  their 
work.  They  have  found  for  themselves  the  envi- 
ronment required  for  their  mental  growth.  If  this 
is  regarded  as  the  method  of  education  peculiarly 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  199 

adapted  to  geniuses,  it  is  not  very  complimen- 
tary to  the  schools,  since  it  reduces  education  to 
the  chance  opportunities  which  fortune  may  throw 
in  one's  way.  Would  the  world  have  had  Michael 
Angelo  if  he  had  not  been  born  in  a  town  where, 
during  days  of  truancy,  he  could  loiter  in  the 
studios  of  sculptors?  The  schools  are  educational 
institutions.  At  least -that  is  the  popular  suppo- 
sition. But  education  consists  in  helping  the  tal- 
ents of  children  to  emerge  so  that  the  youths  may 
become  conscious  of  them.  Yet  that  is  the  thing 
which  few  teachers  do.  The  excuse  is  lack  of 
time,  and  under  the  regulation  of  the  system  they 
are  right,  because  modern  education  has  never 
taken  individual  aptitude  into  account  in  the 
reckoning  of  school  duties. 

It  may  be  said  that  superior  talent  will  surely 
reveal  itself.  But  we  have  already  seen  that,  in 
the  lower  animals,  instincts  as  firmly  established 
as  the  requirements  of  the  species  for  survival 
can  fix  them,  do  not  appear  without  appropriate 
stimulation  from  the  environment.  Has  talent  in 
human  beings  any  stronger  incentive  to  call  it 
forth?  We  must  not  forget  that  in  man  oppos- 
ing stimuli  are  always  present.  Opportunity  to 
enter  a  trade  or  profession  with  what  seems  to 
be  unusually  favorable  prospects,  and  the  desire  to 
quickly  become  self-supporting,  are  cases  in  point. 


200  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  talent,  under  conditions  of 
modern  life,  is  exceedingly  delicate  and  must  be 
tenderly  handled,  else  it  will  die  at  birth.  Inves- 
tigations mentioned  in  an  earlier  chapter  have 
shown  a  striking  connection  between  genuis  on 
the  one  hand  and  time  and  place  on  the  other, 
and  the  dearth  of  great  productions  to-day  in 
lines  which  do  not  promise  good  financial  returns 
is  a  matter  of  general  comment.  Whatever  may 
be  true  of  the  inheritance  of  talent,  its  creative 
realization,  and  hence  its  social  value,  depends 
upon  environment. 

The  responsibility  of  the  schools  here  is  evident. 
They  have  the  children  from  the  age  when  ability 
is  largely  undifferentiated  to  the  time  when  talent 
should  manifest  itself  if  the  environment  offers 
suitable  stimulation.  But  the  inexcusable  fact,  as 
we  have  seen,  is  that  teachers  rarely  discover  either 
ordinary  intelligence  or  unusual  talent.  They  are 
so  occupied  with  hearing  lessons  that  they  fail  to 
educate.  Often,  indeed,  the  very  evidence  of  abil- 
ity is  the  chief  source  of  annoyance.  A  boy  of 
fourteen  worked  a  year  to  earn  the  money  with 
which  to  buy  chemicals  and  apparatus  for  a  lab- 
oratory of  his  own.  It  meant  many  deprivations. 
He  refused  invitations  involving  expense  that  he 
might  lay  aside  the  money  which  he  earned  by 
selling  papers  and  tending  furnaces.  At  last  his 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  201 

savings-bank  account  showed  twenty-five  dollars 
to  his  credit.  He  purchased  the  outfit  and  ar- 
ranged a  little  laboratory  in  his  sleeping-room, 
where  he  worked  evenings  while  his  friends  were 
on  the  street  and  visiting  moving-picture  shows. 
One  day  during  recess,  when  the  science  teacher 
was  out  of  town,  he  went  to  the  chemical  labora- 
tory of  the  school  to  repeat  an  experiment  which 
did  not  "work"  the  preceding  evening  at  his  home. 
He  thought  that  he  could  finish  it  before  the  close 
of  recess.  At  any  rate  he  would  surely  hear  the 
bell.  But  in  his  absorption  in  the  work,  a  strange 
fact  from  the  pedagogical  point  of  view,  time  went 
faster  than  he  expected,  and  when  at  last  the  ex- 
periment was  successfully  done  he  found  that  it 
was  twenty  minutes  past  the  ringing  of  the  bell, 
and  he  had  not  heard  it.  At  the  close  of  school 
the  teacher  told  him  to  remain.  When  the  others 
had  left  he  explained  his  tardiness,  and  then  his 
punishment  was  doubled  because  he  was  not  only 
late  but  had  entered  the  laboratory  without  per- 
mission. And  his  sin  was  enthusiasm  for  study 
beyond  the  class  prescription! 

It  is  not  considered  good  form  for  children  to 
mature  according  to  their  own  individuality. 
Committees  have  worked  it  all  out  and  they 
know  just  how  children  should  develop.  Any 
deviation  from  their  plans  is  an  educational  mon- 


202  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

strosity  which  must  be  promptly  suppressed,  lest 
the  belief  in  the  right  to  grow  through  one's  own 
powers  spread  and  depreciate  the  value  of  the 
miscellaneous  collection  of  antique  pedagogical 
ideas.  Naturally  the  superintendents  of  whom 
we  have  been  speaking  do  not  wish  to  lose  their 
stock  in  trade,  because  it  is  always  hard  to  make 
a  new  start  in  life.  Besides,  if  the  claim  of  one 
child  to  his  own  personal  sort  of  development 
were  allowed,  others  might  insist  upon  the  same 
privilege.  This  would  create  a  bad  precedent,  and 
a  precedent  is  something  to  be  avoided.  It  is  a 
dangerous  thing.  Think  what  chaos  this  would 
cause  in  a  school  of  two  thousand  children !  That 
would  mean  two  thousand  youngsters  each  with 
his  own  personality,  and  every  one  claiming  the 
right  to  grow  in  his  own  way.  What  would  be- 
come of  the  system  which  has  been  carefully  built 
up  and  improved  until  it  can  turn  out  each  year 
a  limitless  number  of  fac-similes  ? 

The  test  of  efficiency  is  the  product,  an4  the 
condemnatory  fact  about  our  public-school  sys- 
tem is  its  failure  to  obtain  results.  The  majority 
of  children  escape  it  from  day  to  day  if  they  can, 
and  they  anticipate  with  keenest  joy  the  time 
when  they  may  legally  leave  it  forever.  The  few 
teachers  who  have  played  an  important  part  in 
shaping  the  careers  of  eminent  men  have  been 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  203 

those  who  broke  away  from  traditional  methods. 
They  have  thought  of  education  as  mental  devel- 
opment rather  than  as  the  acquisition  of  a  given 
stint  of  information,  and  in  their  training  they 
have  taken  thought  of  the  personal  traits  of  their 
pupils.  That  is  not  so  easy  to-day,  because  over- 
seers are  often  employed  to  prevent  it.  These 
overseers  are  given  a  less  opprobrious  title,  but  it 
comes  to  the  same  thing.  They  are  called  super- 
visors. Their  purpose  is  to  see  that  the  teachers 
obey  the  rules  regarding  the  course  of  study  and 
the  method  of  presentation.  In  some  instances 
there  are  also  supervisors  of  supervisors  who  in 
turn  must  draw  their  intellectual  nourishment 
from  assistant  superintendents,  and  these  again 
drink  at  the  fountain  of  method  in  the  superin- 
tendent's sanctuary.  It  is  doubtful  if  a  more 
marvellous  confusion  could  be  devised.  No  one 
below  the  pedagogical  divinity  has  any  authority. 
The  teacher  is  helpless.  And  he  is  always  in  fear 
of  the  penalty  of  transgression. 

Under  these  conditions,  if  a  teacher  is  con- 
vinced that  departure  from  the  rules  would  ben- 
efit some  of  his  pupils  he  presents  the  request  to 
his  principal.  The  principal  then  asks  the  assist- 
ant superintendent,  the  assistant  superintendent 
asks  the  superintendent,  and  the  superintendent, 
if,  as  is  often  the  case,  he  wishes  to  escape  respon- 


204  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

sibility,  asks  the  board  of  education,  and  the 
board  refers  it  to  a  committee.  These  are  all 
over  and  above  the  supervisors  to  whom  we  just 
referred.  This  is  the  educational  conduit  when 
the  system  is  not  of  the  most  approved  model. 
The  latest  improvements,  at  least  in  our  largest 
city,  have  given  us  a  few  notable  additions,  such  as 
assistant  principals,  district  superintendents,  and 
associate  superintendents.  When  the  request  of 
which  we  were  speaking  has  passed  through  the 
labyrinthine  channel  it  reaches  its  destination  so 
wonderfully  improved  that  one  is  lost  in  admira- 
tion at  the  marvellous  reconstructive  power  of  the 
system.  It  evolves  the  simplest  question  into  a 
terrifying  spectre.  "We  cannot  recognize  our  own 
question  when  it  comes  back  to  us  tagged  with 
the  answer,"  remarked  a  teacher.  When  the  an- 
swer is  received  the  personality  of  the  referee  is 
often  hidden  in  that  most  diplomatic  of  all  pro- 
nouns, "it."  "It  has  been  decided"  is  the  way 
the  answer  often  runs.  Surely  no  better  system 
for  shirking  responsibility  could  have  been  in- 
vented. Naturally,  teachers  soon  cease  to  make 
requests,  and  the  children  are  left  to  get  along  as 
best  they  may. 

The  pathetic  side  of  all  this  is  that  these  ques- 
tions concern  the  welfare  of  live  children  for  whose 
growth  and  development  they  are  of  vital  impor- 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  205 

tance.  Yet,  in  city  and  country  alike,  such  ques- 
tions are  decided  by  men  who  have  no  adequate 
knowledge  of  the  children  in  behalf  of  whom  they 
are  asked.  The  teacher  who  works  with  them 
every  day  is  the  only  one  who  has  that  knowl- 
edge, and  he  has  no  authority  to  act.  Indeed, 
only  in  rare  instances  does  he  have  opportunity 
to  present  his  case,  since  it  is  a  part  of  the  ethics 
of  "the  system"  that  communications  take  the 
prescribed  course  which,  though  varying  in  length 
with  the  size  of  the  town,  is  always  long  enough 
to  diffuse  and  evaporate  responsibility.  Cases 
of  supreme  importance  to  the  life  of  boys  and 
girls  are  decided  as  though  they  were  questions  of 
financial  investment  to  be  settled  by  a  committee 
of  directors  with  reference  solely  to  their  benefit 
to  the  corporation.  That  is,  in  fact,  the  basis  of 
decision  because  the  paramount  preliminary  ques- 
tion always  is,  "If  we  grant  this,  will  it  cause  us 
trouble?"  Superintendents,  in  small  and  large 
towns  alike,  rarely  assume  authority  because,  if 
trouble  arises,  they  wish  to  shield  themselves  be- 
hind the  impersonal  board  of  education. 

The  centralization  of  the  privilege  of  thinking 
has  produced  an  educational  machine  of  tiresome 
uniformity.  As  the  number  of  traditional  author- 
ities who  furnish  ideas  is  limited,  a  depressing 
sameness  extends  throughout  the  country.  The 


206  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

poorer  schools  are  not  distinguished  from  the  bet- 
ter so  much  by  a  different  method  as  by  a  worse 
handling  of  the  same  method. 

Conformity  to  official  methods  has  been  made 
in  many  places  the  test  of  teaching  efficiency,  and 
the  teachers  who  secure  promotion  are  those  who 
adapt  themselves  most  successfully  to  the  tradi- 
tional ideas  of  their  school  system.  Outlines  of 
opinions  of  educational  reformers  are  taught  as 
the  history  of  education.  Moreover,  the  exact 
period  in  antiquity  of  the  author  of  each  present- 
day  book  on  methods  can  be  determined  from  the 
reformer  whom  he  has  disinterred  for  his  educa- 
tional model.  If  the  results  of  this  embalmed  ped- 
agogy are  not  good,  and  there  are  those  who  say 
that  they  are  not,  the  blame  is  put  upon  the  raw 
material  delivered  to  the  schools  to  be  worked  up 
into  an  intelligent,  social  product.  This  is  a  safe 
position  to  take,  because  no  one  can  prove  that  a 
boy  who  leaves  school  with  hatred  for  study,  and 
without  any  strong  purpose  in  life,  did  not  in- 
herit these  undesirable  qualities  from  some  aber- 
rant ancestor.  As  we  all  have  such  forbears,  one 
cannot  help  admiring  the  clever  strategy  shown 
in  the  selection  of  such  an  impregnable  position. 
To  be  sure,  the  intrenchments  of  these  school- 
men, as  we  have  seen,  are  just  now  being  under- 
mined by  republics  for  criminally  inclined  boys, 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  207 

but  as  no  oligarchy  has  ever  abandoned  a  posi- 
tion before  its  defences  were  blown  up  by  public 
opinion,  it  is  too  soon  to  expect  a  realignment 
of  forces. 

One  of  the  causes  of  this  conservatism  of  su- 
perintendents is  their  fear  of  reprisals  from  their 
constituency.  Progressively  inclined  men  admit 
this.  "Few  of  us  can  hope  to  make  a  national 
reputation,"  remarked  one  not  long  ago,  "and  our 
only  hope  of  being  called  to  a  larger  school  with 
a  higher  salary  is  to  keep  one  position  until  an- 
other is  obtained.  This  means  that  we  must  not 
antagonize  the  public  by  introducing  unpopular 
innovations."  This  diagnosis  is  fairly  correct. 
Self-preservation  requires  one  to  hold  one's  po- 
sition. The  educational  welfare  of  the  children, 
therefore,  is  a  secondary  matter.  At  whatever  cost 
to  them  the  public  must  be  kept  contented.  This 
produces  an  artificial  selection  of  mediocre  men, 
since  those  of  quality  refuse  to  adapt  themselves 
to  such  stultifying  conditions.  As  officials  selected 
in  this  way  are  not  of  the  creative  sort,  most  of 
those  who  survive  do  so  by  adopting  traditional 
doctrines.  No  efFective  opposition  to  a  superin- 
tendent can  arise  so  long  as  he  walks  circum- 
spectly in  the  paths  which  his  professional  an- 
cestors have  trodden.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
attitude  of  the  public  toward  innovations  is  un- 


208  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

certain.  Pestalozzi  and  Herbart  cannot  be  quoted 
in  support  of  them.  The  old  men  of  the  tribal 
community,  in  whom  wisdom  rests,  are  sure  to 
disapprove.  It  seems  wise,  therefore,  to  follow 
established  methods.  So  the  vicious  circle  re- 
peats itself. 

Naturally,  timid  superintendents,  who  always 
keep  their  fingers  on  the  public  pulse  so  as  im- 
mediately to  detect  a  rise  of  temperature,  do  not 
wish  to  have  constructive  principals  under  them. 
Subordinates  with  ideas  are  a  menace.  If  their 
innovations  do  not  create  trouble,  they  may  still 
be  startling  enough  to  make  the  people  take  no- 
tice, and  such  superintendents  do  not  wish  the 
public  gaze  of  approval  to  be  turned  from  their 
office.  They  must  be  the  acknowledged  source  of 
all  improvements.  Therefore  they  desire  imita- 
tors in  their  system.  Only  strong  independent 
men  dare  to  gather  original  thinkers  around  them. 

The  same  disastrous  effect  of  this  artificial 
selection  extends  down  through  the  system  and 
draws  to  the  schools  a  body  of  teachers  who  must 
earn  their  living  and  who  do  not  know  what  else 
to  do.  Since  it  is  generally  known  that  teachers 
are  not  allowed  to  carry  out  their  own  construc- 
tive ideas  the  capable  men  and  women  who  are 
not  merely  seeking  a  respectable  job  tend  to 
enter  other  lines  of  work.  One  bit  of  evidence  is 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  209 

the  deplorable  situation  which  has  recently  been 
discovered  in  Portland,  Maine.  The  public  library 
of  that  city  issues  teachers'  cards  which  enable 
the  holder  to  draw  five  non-fiction  books  at  one 
time.  At  the  time  of  the  last  published  report 
only  twenty-five1  of  these  cards  had  been  issued 
to  public-school  teachers,  and  there  are  two 
hundred  and  ninety-five  teachers  in  the  schools. 
If  this  is  indicative  of  the  proportion  of  non- 
fiction  readers  among  the  public-school  teachers 
of  the  country,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose Portland  to  be  exceptional,  how  can  they  be 
expected  to  develop  the  children  who  come  un- 
der them?  The  first  requirement  in  one  who  is 
to  teach  others  to  think  is  that  he  himself  be  a 
thinker,  and  it  seems  evident  that  public-school 
teachers  do  not  satisfy  the  test.  But,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  selective  process  which  prevails  in  most 
schools  turns  away  thinkers. 

Complete  development  means  specialized  growth. 
Every  child  is  a  complex  of  undifferentiated 
strength  and  weakness.  The  teacher  is  the  ana- 
lyst who  is  to  separate  the  ingredients  which  make 
up  the  individual  boys  and  girls,  and,  by  deter- 
mining the  significance  of  each  component  factor, 


1  "Annual  Report,  1910."  The  report  gives  thirty-one  teachers' 
cards,  but  the  writer  has  learned  that  six  of  these  were  taken  by 
teachers  in  a  private  school. 


210  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

to  utilize  all  the  forces  that  make  for  growth. 
Mass-education  which  requires  each  child  to  con- 
form to  a  stereotyped  system  should  be  replaced 
by  a  flexible  plan  of  education  that  affords  oppor- 
tunity for  the  play  of  mental  forces.  It  is  not 
reasonable  to  expect  unlike  children  to  react  with 
equal  benefit  to  the  same  demands.  Each  one 
requires  his  own  special  sort  of  mental  stimula- 
tion. Though  the  reorganization  of  the  curricu- 
lum is  important,  the  fundamental  educational 
need  is  flexibility  in  method.  Education  should 
be  adapted  to  varying  personalities  instead  of  re- 
quiring each  child  to  adapt  himself  to  a  fixed  plan 
of  growth.  Diversity  of  ability  is  required  in  the 
evolution  of  human  society.  This  is  one  of  the 
differences  between  man  and  the  lower  animals. 
Among  the  latter  the  demands  of  survival  for- 
bid marked  variation.  Animals  are  obliged  to 
conform  to  the  conditions  set  by  nature,  and  the 
examinations  which  they  must  pass  are  always 
made  out  on  the  same  plan.  Unusual  ability 
which  varies  from  the  type  has  no  place  here. 
Now,  curiously  enough,  the  schools  have  adopted 
the  same  plan,  and  stamp  with  disapproval  all  de- 
partures from  their  design.  A  certain  standard  of 
efficiency  is  assumed,  and  those  who  do  not  con- 
form receive  low  marks.  That  is  what  nature 
does  in  her  school,  only  she  is  so  irritated  that 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  211 

she  kills  those  who  fail.  The  teacher,  on  the 
other  hand,  only  retards  his  pupils  in  their  school 
progress  and,  incidentally,  in  their  mental  growth. 

Reorganization  of  our  educational  system  to 
meet  the  demands  of  individual  variation  is  the 
modern  educational  problem.  But  school  systems 
have  become  such  a  fascinating  subject  of  study 
that  the  atomic  individuals  for  whom  the  systems 
were  devised  have  been  forgotten;  the  enlarge- 
ment and  perpetuation  of  the  organization  is  more 
important  than  the  welfare  of  the  children.  An 
eminent  German  educator  who  visited  our  coun- 
try not  long  ago,  when  asked  his  opinion  of  our 
schools,  replied,  with  dry  humor,  that  the  thing 
which  impressed  him  most  was  their  similarity. 
But  this  similarity  is  such  as  we  have  seen  in  the 
animal  method. 

The  directors  of  our  educational  systems  should 
grasp  the  fact  that  new  conditions  require  corre- 
sponding changes  in  education.  In  the  earlier  his- 
tory of  our  country  the  ignorance  of  some  teachers 
and  the  lack  of  time  of  others  forced  children  to 
do  a  little  thinking.  Since,  through  force  of  cir- 
cumstances, the  boys  and  girls  of  that  period  were 
left  to  their  own  devices,  they  naturally  did  their 
thinking  in  their  own  way.  They  were  blessed 
with  absence  of  system.  The  schools  did  not 
then  run  on  schedule  time,  with  the  text-book 


212  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

page  which  must  be  reached  on  a  certain  day 
marked  in  the  plan.  Now  a  prescribed  distance 
is  run  each  day  in  order  not  to  "lose  time."  The 
result  of  the  time-table  method  is  that  much  of 
the  work  is  done  for  the  pupils  by  the  teacher. 
The  book  is  to  be  covered  and  the  class  must  be 
kept  together.  So  there  is  no  other  way  than  for 
the  teacher  to  do  the  work  and  then  to  show  the 
children  how  he  did  it.  And  so  great  is  the  joy 
of  the  teacher  in  his  splendid  exposition  that  he 
is  sure  they  all  understand  it.  Yet  one  of  the 
educational  maxims  is  that  we  learn  by  doing, 
and  not  by  hearing  or  seeing.  Of  course,  this  ra- 
pidity of  transportation  leaves  some  of  the  pupils 
scattered  along  the  right  of  way,  but  not  so  many 
as  the  speed  would  warrant,  since  many  are  kept 
from  falling  off  by  the  teacher  because  his  teach- 
ing-efficiency is  graded  in  part  by  the  number 
who  go  through  to  the  end  of  the  journey. 

It  is  a  trite  statement  that  education  does  not 
consist  in  the  number  of  pages  gone  over,  yet  it 
seems  necessary  to  make  it.  Every  child  has  his 
own  way  of  approaching  a  subject  of  study,  and 
his  mental  development  requires  that  his  person- 
ality be  reckoned  with.  His  way  may  not  always 
be  the  best,  but  whatever  improvement  is  made 
must  come  through  and  not  against  his  own  line 
of  approach.  Children  with  keen  love  for  science 


VAGARIES  OF  THE  SCHOOL  213 

or  literature  have  been  made  to  hate  the  work 
by  the  formalism  of  the  school.  It  is  time  to 
start  a  crusade  against  the  vending  of  cold-storage 
pedagogy. 


CHAPTER  VI 

FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING 

OUR  New  England  forefathers  had  the  right 
idea  regarding  the  relation  of  mental  and  moral 
training  in  the  schools  when  they  inserted  in  the 
"  New  England  Primer" : 

"Good  children  must 

Fear  God  all  day, 
Parents  obey, 
No  false  things  say, 
By  no  sin  stay, 
Love  Christ  alway, 
In  secret  pray, 
Mind  little  play, 
Make  no  delay 

In  doing  good." 

Evidently  our  ancestors  were  convinced  that  the 
mental  and  moral  elements  in  education  should 
not  be  separated;  and  when  they  put  into  the 
same  primer  under  F,  so  that  the  infant  in  learn- 
ing his  letters  could  not  miss  it,  "Foolishness  is 
bound  up  in  tl^e  heart  of  a  child,  but  the  rod  of 
correction  shall  drive  it  from  him,"  they  associ- 
ated discipline  with  mental  and  moral  training, 

214 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING        215 

and  the  education  of  the  child  was  complete. 
The  compilers  of  this  wonderful  little  "  New  Eng- 
land Primer"  were  certainly  right  in  their  deter- 
mination to  educate  the  whole  child  instead  of 
dividing  him  up  into  sections,  with  a  distinct  ma- 
teria  medica  for  each  part. 

The  unity  of  mind  has  always  been  difficult  to 
comprehend.  Early  modern  psychology  divided 
the  soul  into  faculties  each  of  which  was  supposed 
to  be  trained  separately  and  specifically.  This 
error  still  prevails  in  popular  psychologies  de- 
signed more  for  pedagogic  effect  than  for  truth- 
ful statement  of  fact. 

This  compartment  idea  of  the  mind  has  been  the 
cause  of  fallacies  which  have  been  attended  with 
unfortunate  results  in  elementary  and  secondary 
education.  The  belief  in  a  faculty  of  memory  has 
led  to  an  exaggerated  estimation  of  the  value  of 
unrelated  facts  and  information  which,  in  their 
chaotic  state,  serve  as  a  nervous  irritant  that  would 
seriously  obstruct  mental  activity  were  they  not 
sloughed  off  by  the  mind  in  the  healing  process. 
Nature  has  endowed  boys  with  a  beneficent  in- 
difference to  indigestible  mental  fodder,  just  as 
we  are  told  she  has  taught  birds  to  reject  poison- 
ous caterpillars.  It  seems  to  be  her  way  of  pro- 
tecting her  offspring  from  rapid  destruction.  The 
difference  is  that  children  may  be  compelled  to 


216  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

take  the  food  offered  by  their  teachers,  and  for 
this  reason  they  are  likely  to  suffer  from  mental 
gastritis. 

But  still  more  disastrous,  perhaps,  has  been  the 
separation  of  the  mental  from  the  moral  in  devel- 
opment. The  schools  have  limited  themselves  to 
intellectual  instruction  while  moral  training  has 
been  relegated  to  the  home  and  to  such  other  in- 
fluences as  parents  may  select.  Unfortunately, 
the  home  does  not  always  perform  the  duty  which 
has  been  assigned  to  it.  A  large  proportion  of 
juvenile  delinquents  come  from  homes  which  do 
not  function.  One-half  of  the  delinquents  and 
nearly  three-fourths  of  the  neglected  children  in 
charge  of  the  juvenile  court  of  Saint  Louis  come 
from  homes  in  which  the  parents  are  not  living 
together.1  Considerably  more  than  fifty  per  cent 
of  those  entering  the  Indiana  Boys'  School  have 
lost  one  or  both  parents  by  separation  or  death, 
and  one  or  both  parents  of  half  the  boys  in  the 
same  reformatory  are  intemperate.  Of  those  in 
the  Illinois  State  Reformatory  more  than  fifty 
have  lost  one  or  both  parents.2 

While  the  schools  cannot  take  the  place  of  the 
home  the  question  may  very  properly  be  raised 
as  to  whether  they  may  not  be  so  organized  as  to 

*"  Report  of  the  Juvenile  Court,  1910,"  p.  66. 
1  See  last  reports  from  these  institutions. 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING         217 

become  a  more  efficient  social  force.  Of  course 
we  all  know  just  what  ought  to  be  accomplished. 
The  schools  should  be  made  so  thorough  that  the 
graduates  will  be  equipped  for  any  occupation, 
and  so  interesting  that  the  children  will  antici- 
pate each  day's  session  as  they  now  do  a  holiday. 
Then  there  would  be  no  complaint  from  business 
men  that  high-school  boys  cannot  spell,  or  cipher, 
or  write  correct  English;  and  college  freshmen 
would  justify  the  first  part  of  James  Russell  Low- 
ell's statement  that  Cambridge  is  very  learned, 
"because  the  freshmen  bring  so  much  knowledge 
into  the  town  and  the  seniors  take  so  little  away." 
The  difficulty,  however,  is  to  produce  the  situa- 
tion which  we  all  agree  is  desirable.  It  is  not  easy 
to  unite  the  complex  ingredients  that  make  up 
study  and  boy  into  a  mixture  that  will  not  fer- 
ment and  explode.  Perhaps  one  trouble  is  that 
the  compound  has  been  too  tightly  corked. 

The  biographies  of  eminent  men  show  that  the 
teachers  who  exercised  the  greatest  influence  over 
their  lives  were  the  ones  who  were  most  completely 
emancipated  from  rules  and  systems.1  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  biographies  are  limited  to  men  who 
have  become  famous.  But  for  boys  less  fortu- 
nately endowed  mentally  we  have  the  evidence 
of  self-governing  schools,  as  well  as  the  various 

1  "Mind  in  the  Making,"  by  Edgar  James  Swift,  chap.  III. 


218  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

junior  republics  and  reformative  institutions,  to 
which  reference  has  been  made  in  earlier  chap- 
ters, that  those  of  ordinary  ability,  and  even  such 
as  have  excellent  criminal  prospects,  reciprocate 
with  amazing  faithfulness  the  confidence  imposed 
in  them.  When  we  ask  the  reason  for  this  mu- 
tual interchange  of  confidence,  psychology  gives 
the  answer.  Man,  we  have  said,  reacts  to  a  stim- 
ulus in  like  manner  to  its  action  upon  him.  If 
he  stubs  his  toe  on  a  stone  he  is  prone  to  kick 
the  obstruction.  When  he  refrains  it  is  for  social 
rather  than  ethical  reasons.  In  his  dealings  with 
his  fellow  men  also,  he  gives  in  kind  what  he 
receives. 

The  prisoners  of  the  Montpelier  (Vermont)  jail 
go  about  the  town  just  like  other  men,  perform- 
ing the  work  at  which  they  are  employed.1  They 
have  no  guards  because  they  do  not  need  them. 
Under  the  old  system  the  sheriff  was  in  constant 
fear  of  a  jail  delivery.  And  he  had  cause  for  his 
anxiety.  When  at  work  the  men  formerly  did 
only  as  much  as  was  necessary  to  escape  the  pen- 
alty of  insubordination.  "I'm  doing  just  as  little 
as  I  can  and  not  be  punished,  and  I'm  going  to 
keep  on.  You  would  do  the  same,"  said  one  of 
the  prisoners  to  the  sheriff.  This  was  when  the 

1  See  "Humanizing  the  Prisons,"  by  Morrison  I.  Swift,  Atlantic 
Monthly,  vol.  108,  1911,  p.  170. 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING         219 

men  received  no  compensation  for  their  work 
and  were  constantly  watched  by  officious  guards. 
Now  that  they  are  not  watched  and  receive  all 
over  one  dollar  that  their  labor  brings,  they  do 
an  honest  day's  work.  During  the  four  years  of 
this  system  of  trusting  the  men,  only  two  out  of 
eight  hundred  prisoners  allowed  full  freedom  have 
attempted  to  escape.  This  is  a  remarkable  ex- 
ample of  the  principle  that  in  human  relations 
action  and  reaction  are  of  the  same  kind.  Men 
give  back  what  they  get. 

Every  teacher  knows  that  this  is  also  the  way 
with  boys.  The  bad  ones  are  those  of  good  stuff. 
But  they  cannot  be  managed  by  punishment. 
They  have  too  much  independence  for  that  sort 
of  treatment.  They  react  to  the  punishment  in  the 
same  way  that  the  punishment  acts  upon  them. 
Their  resentment,  however,  goes  out  to  the  method 
and  system,  and  not,  as  a  rule,  to  the  one  who  is 
responsible  for  the  pain  and  humiliation.  They 
play  according  to  the  rules  of  the  game  and  try 
to  beat  the  system.  The  result  is  that  punish- 
ment becomes  a  continuous  procedure.  A  vicious 
chain  of  action  and  reaction  is  set  up — misde- 
meanor, punishment,  misdemeanor,  punishment. 
The  writer  once  taught  in  a  school  where  delin- 
quents were  kept  after  school  to  learn  the  lessons 
which  they  had  not  studied  during  school  hours, 


220  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

or  to  atone  for  other  pedagogical  sins.  The  strik- 
ing fact  was  that  the  same  boys  and  girls  were 
always  detained.  They  expected  to  be  kept  and 
never  made  engagements  which  would  interfere 
with  the  usual  course  of  events,  much  as  one  does 
not  try  to  thwart  nature's  law  of  gravitation.  Ex- 
tra periods  of  work  were  an  accepted  part  of  their 
school  routine.  Yet,  notwithstanding  the  trouble 
which  they  caused,  I  may  add,  with  a  wider 
knowledge  of  the  nature  of  young  savages,  that 
they  were  the  choicest  specimens  in  the  room. 

Place  beside  this  another  picture.  On  the  floor 
in  the  back  of  the  school-room  are  three  boys  bus- 
ily working  over  a  relief  map  which  they  can  see 
better  in  this  position  than  if  it  were  hung  upon 
the  wall.  In  a  corner  of  the  room,  far  enough 
away  to  avoid  disturbance,  a  small  girl  is  drilling 
one  of  her  schoolmates  in  United  States  history, 
and  in  the  cloak-room  two  children  are  working 
over  spelling.  Boys  and  girls  move  about,  but  a 
little  observation  shows  that  they  are  attending 
to  their  business,  going  to  one  place  or  another 
as  they  need  books  or  material  for  their  work. 
Everywhere  the  order  of  the  workshop  prevails 
rather  than  that  of  the  school.  When  the  teacher 
was  asked  if  the  confusion  did  not  distract  the 
attention  of  the  children,  she  replied:  "Judge  for 
yourself.  They  are  all  at  work,  and  they  pay  no 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING         221 

attention  to  what  others  are  doing  unless  it  con- 
cerns their  own  work." 

"Do  you  keep  children  after  school?" 

"Oh,  no!  There  is  no  occasion  for  that.  Each 
one  does  all  that  he  can,  and  that  is  all  one 
should  expect." 

"What  about  the  discipline?" 

"Discipline!  That  takes  care  of  itself."  And 
then  she  added:  "A  teacher  needs  three  qualifica- 
tions :  knowledge  of  her  subject,  recognition  of  the 
rights  of  children,  and  a  sense  of  humor." 

I  have  reflected  much  about  the  last  two  of 
these  qualifications  since  making  the  acquaintance 
of  this  school:  the  right  of  children  to  lead  their 
racial  life,  to  feel,  in  sport,  the  thrills  that  tingled 
through  the  nerves  of  primitive  man  in  danger; 
their  right  to  initiate  action,  to  decide  upon  the 
proper  course  of  conduct  under  conditions  suited 
to  their  years;  the  right  not  to  be  bored. 

The  teacher,  like  the  preacher,  has  his  audience 
at  his  mercy.  In  both  instances,  this  is  one  of 
the  obstacles  to  raising  the  average  efficiency 
above  mediocrity.  With  children  the  state  of 
being  bored  is  a  fertile  culture  for  various  dis- 
orders, chiefly  ethical,  since  self-control  is  a  habit 
long  before  it  is  a  principle  of  conduct.  Pro- 
fessor Edward  L.  Thorndike  once  suggested  that 
a  court  stenographer  be  a  part  of  the  equipment 


222  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

of  every  college,  to  take  down  in  shorthand  all 
that  the  lecturer  said.  It  would  be  an  admira- 
ble stimulus  to  efficiency.  The  writer  would  urge 
the  extension  of  the  plan  to  the  elementary  and 
secondary  schools.1  Could  a  teacher  occasionally 
read  everything  that  he  said  during  his  lecture  or 
recitation  he  would  wonder  less  at  the  inatten- 
tion and  lack  of  self-control  of  his  hearers. 

We  have  found  that  to  keep  boys  contented 
with  their  work  things  must  move.  This  is  a  re- 
freshing, hopeful  fact.  It  gives  opportunity  to 
create  situations  from  which  children  may  ab- 
sorb ethical  ideas.  After  all,  much  of  our  effec- 
tive education  in  early  life  comes  by  absorption. 
If  situations  are  cleverly  planned,  children  react 
to  them  from  the  ethical  points  of  view  round 
which  the  plans  are  focussed.  They  react  in  this 
way  because  the  situations  require  just  this  sort 
of  reaction  to  secure  the  results  which  the  chil- 
dren themselves  desire.  In  arranging  an  educa- 
tional situation,  the  criterion  of  success,  as  in  all 
other  plans,  is,  will  it  work?  Given  the  thing 
that  you  wish  boys  to  do,  or  the  conclusion  to 
which  you  wish  them  to  come,  then  the  problem 

*As  this  book  is  going  through  the  press  the  writer  learns  that 
a  court  stenographer  has  been  used  by  Dr.  Romiett  Stevens  in  an 
experimental  study  of  the  recitation.  See  the  Teachers'  College 
Record,  September,  1910,  and  "The  Question  as  a  Measure  of 
Efficiency  in  Instruction,"  1912. 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING        223 

is  to  produce  such  a  set  of  conditions  as  will  make 
the  desired  kind  of  action  inevitable.  This,  of 
course,  requires  a  profound  knowledge  of  child 
psychology,  but  no  one  should  teach  who  lacks 
such  knowledge. 

One  may  not  be  able  to  predict  the  action  of  a 
single  individual,  but  the  response  of  a  group  of 
boys  under  known  conditions  can  be  as  positively 
foretold  as  the  rising  of  the  morning  sun.  Nat- 
urally, the  frankness  and  tact  of  the  teacher — in- 
deed, all  that  belongs  to  the  vague  but  meaning- 
ful term,  personality — are  important  factors  in  the 
problem.  Boys  receive  credit  for  being  the  un- 
certain, indeterminable  element  of  the  school-room. 
This  is  one  of  the  popular  pedagogical  fallacies. 
The  notion  is  a  convenient  excuse  for  incompe- 
tent teachers.  This  accounts  for  its  general  ac- 
ceptance. It  has  been  repeated  so  many  times 
that  its  truthfulness  seems  self-evident. 

Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  boys  are  painfully  con- 
sistent. Perhaps  consistency  is  a  primitive  char- 
acteristic. At  all  events,  the  lower  animals  possess 
it  in  a  high  degree.  Were  this  not  true  they 
could  not  be  trapped  so  easily.  Among  men,  prog- 
ress in  knowledge  disturbs  the  fixed  system  of 
ideas.  To-day's  thoughts  may  find  no  intellec- 
tual or  moral  sanction  to-morrow.  Boys  are  more 
dependable  because  they  have  fewer  conflicting 


224  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

ideas.  Their  principles  of  conduct  may  not  al- 
ways appeal  to  us,  but  they  are  consistent  with 
the  ethics  of  their  group.  More  than  this,  the 
morale  of  a  group  is  always  consistent  with  itself. 
But  it  is  excessively  sensitive  to  external  influ- 
ences. It  responds  with  astonishing  delicacy  to 
altered  conditions.  We  have  found  illustrations 
of  this  in  the  delinquent  children  of  the  better 
sort  of  reform  schools  and  in  the  Cleveland  Boys' 
Home.  In  their  native  haunts  of  the  congested 
districts  the  demands  of  the  boys  are  for  crimi- 
nal acts.  Under  changed  conditions  the  impulses 
are  altered.  In  both  cases  they  are  consistent 
and  predictable.  Evidently  the  fulcrum  here  is 
the  situation  in  which  the  boys  are  placed. 

We  have  found  the  various  forms  of  pupil  self- 
government  eminently  successful  in  creating  edu- 
cational situations  for  promoting  ethical  habits  of 
conduct  through  self-control.  William  George  gives 
an  instance  from  the  history  of  his  junior  republic. 

Mr.  George  had  been  staging  his  usual  morning 
whipping  scene  to  the  delight  of  the  assembled 
boys  and  girls.  He  chanced  to  glance  over  the 
company,  "and  a  look  of  expectancy  was  plainly 
written  on  every  face."  Suddenly  it  occurred  to 
him  to  make  the  children  the  judges  of  the  guilt 
of  the  accused.  But  let  Mr.  George  describe  the 
scene  in  his  own  words. 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING         225 

*  I  am  going  to  let  Lanky  and  Curly  tell  their 
story  to  you,'  he  said  to  the  boys,  'and  then  I 
am  going  to  let  you  decide  whether  they  shall  be 
punished  or  go  free.  It's  up  to  you.' 

"In  an  instant  there  was  a  change  of  attitude 
on  the  part  of  every  boy  and  girl  present.  They 
straightened  up  in  their  seats,  nodded  approval  to 
one  another  and  likewise  to  me.  There  was  a 
new  light  in  the  features  of  each  one  of  the  entire 
company  of  those  young  people.  This  light  pleased 
me.  I  felt  that  justice  would  be  done. 

"  'Now,  son,  you  may  get  up  and  tell  your  fel- 
low-citizens all  about  the  matter.' 

"Lanky  was  regarded  as  something  of  a  wit, 
and  he  had  a  peculiar  drawl  in  his  speech.  He 
arose  solemnly,  elevated  his  eyes  to  the  roof  of 
the  tent,  then  gradually  turned  on  a  pivot,  until 
he  presented  a  front  to  the  company.  All  this 
time  he  kept  his  eyes  elevated. 

"Oh,  no;  I  hain't  stole  no  apples.  Oh,  no!' 
he  said  solemnly. 

"This  was  intended  to  throw  the  entire  com- 
pany into  convulsions,  and  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances it  would  have  been  a  successful  effort, 
but  now  not  an  individual  even  smiled.  This 
had  the  effect  of  instantly  disconcerting  Lanky. 
His  head  and  his  eyes  dropped  suddenly,  and  for 
the  first  time  he  gazed  into  the  faces  of  his  com- 


226  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

panions,  and  Lanky  saw  the  same  expression  upon 
their  faces  that  I  had  seen,  but  the  effect  on  him 
was  entirely  different. 

"It  was  a  keen,  discriminating  jury  that  he  was 
facing.  The  idea  of  their  regarding  him  as  a  cul- 
prit filled  him  momentarily  with  anger.  The  pre- 
sumption of  their  daring  to  decide  on  his  case! 
That  defiance  that  is  seen  so  often  in  street  boys 
flamed  forth. 

'"Aw,  every  one  of  youse  has  stolen  apples/ 
he  snapped  out. 

"No  one  replied,  but  steadily  they  gazed  at 
him  as  much  as  to  say:  'Have  you  anything  else 
to  offer?' 

"Then  Lanky  got  rattled.  Stage  fright  with 
all  its  horrors  suddenly  seized  him.  Every  trace 
of  defiance  suddenly  vanished  on  the  instant,  and 
he  stood  a  pathetic  picture  before  them.  What 
could  he  do  to  extricate  himself? 

"'Say,  fellers,'  he  snivelled,  'I  didn't  steal 
de  apples.  Curly  here  is  de  bloke  w'at  stole 
dem.' 

"It  took  but  an  instant  for  him  to  see  that  this 
was  the  worst  course  he  could  possibly  have 
adopted.  Two  or  three  said:  'Shame!  Shame!' 
and  although  it  had  prejudiced  his  case,  it  had 
served  to  bring  back  the  defiance  in  his  nature 
and  he  suddenly  bawled  out: 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING         227 

"'Aw,  kill  me  if  youse  wan'  ter,'  and  he  sat 
down. 

"I  turned  to  the  company  and  said,  'Is  he 
guilty  or  not  guilty?' 

"There  was  a  momentary  pause.  One  boy  in 
the  crowd,  evidently  thinking  that  they  did  not 
know  what  I  meant,  shouted  out: 

"He  wants  to  know  wedder  he  done  it  or  wed- 
der  he  didn't  done  it.' 

"Up  went  a  perfect  howl:   'He  done  it.' 

"It  was  now  Curly's  turn.  So  he  arose  and 
said  with  perfect  frankness:  'Yes,  I  took  de  ap- 
ples, but  Lanky  didn't  play  me  quite  a  square  deal 
when  he  said  I  took  all  of  dem.  I  don't  know 
which  one  of  us  took  de  most.  I  don't  t'ink  we 
counted,  but  I  took  me  share,  and  I'm  willin'  to 
take  me  share  of  de  thrashing,  but  I  just  want 
ter  tell  youse  fellers  dat  I'm  goin'  ter  hold  up  me 
right  hand  and  promise  dat  I  hope  ter  die  if  I 
ever  take  any  more,  'cause  I  know  'tain't  right 
ter  steal,  and  me  mudder  would  feel  orful  bad  if 
she  know'd  I  had  been  crookin',  and  dat's  all  I 
got  ter  say.'  And  with  that  neat  little  speech  he 
dropped  down  on  the  bench,  buried  his  face  in 
his  hands,  and  cried  as  if  his  heart  would  break. 

"I  said:  'Is  he  guilty?' 

"No  hand  was  raised. 

'" Not  guilty?' 


228  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

"Not  a  hand  appeared.  Instead  a  very  ani- 
mated conversation  suddenly  took  place  between 
the  assembled  company.  They  were  evidently 
discussing  all  the  fine  points.  A  group  of  older 
lads  at  the  rear  of  the  tent  seemed  to  be  partic- 
ularly absorbed  in  the  discussion  of  the  case. 
Finally  one  of  that  group  said : 

"'Mister  George,  dere  hain't  no  doubt  'bout  it. 
Curly  is  guilty;  but  say,  Mister  George,  won't 
youse  please  go  light  on  him?' 

"There  was  a  clear  recommendation  for  mercy, 
and  I  proceeded  to  'go  light'  on  Curly — light 
enough,  I  may  say,  to  suit  the  most  sentimental 
critic."  x 

Social  and  ethical  attitudes  grow  out  of  the  re- 
lation between  ideas.  The  social  feeling  varies 
in  different  individuals  because  of  the  various 
forms  which  these  relationships  take.  The  writer 
once  spent  several  days  with  a  tramp  and  was 
able,  through  friendship,  to  learn  something  of 
the  philosophy  of  his  actions.  "If  I  work,"  he 
said,  "I  can  only  earn  my  living,  because  my  em- 
ployer will  take  the  rest.  I  can  get  a  living  with- 
out working,  so  what's  the  use  of  tiring  myself 
out?"  From  his  point  of  view  the  argument  was 
unanswerable.  But  he  had  very  strong  convic- 
tions against  robbery. 

1  "The  Junior  Republic,"  by  William  R.  George,  pp.  44-48. 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING         229 

The  two  sorts  of  selves  so  noticeable  in  crimi- 
nals reveal  an  interesting  double  system  of  ideas, 
one  referring  to  society  at  large  and  the  other 
relating  to  their  own  set.  "The  criminal,"  says 
Josiah  Flynt,  "has  two  systems  of  morality:  one 
for  his  business  and  the  other  for  the  'hang-out.' 
The  first  is  this:  'Society  admits  that  the  quarrel 
with  me  is  over  after  I  have  served  out  my  sen- 
tence; and  I,  naturally  enough,  take  the  same 
view  of  the  matter.  It  is  simply  one  of  take  and 
pay.  I  take  something  from  society  and  give  in 
exchange  so  many  years  of  my  life.  If  I  come 
out  ahead,  so  much  the  better  for  me.  If  society 
comes  out  ahead,  so  much  the  worse  for  me,  and 
there  is  no  use  in  whimpering  over  the  transac- 
tion." 1  But  in  his  "hang-out"  the  situation  is 
changed.  "The  criminal,"  continues  Flynt,  "has 
treated  me  with  an  altruism  that  even  a  Tolstoi 
might  admire.  ...  It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  he 
will  'divvy'  his  last  meal  with  a  pal,  .  .  .  and  I 
have  never  known  him  to  tell  me  a  lie  or  to  cheat 
me  or  to  make  fun  of  me  behind  my  back.  ...  It 
sometimes  happens  in  his  raids  that  he  makes 
mistakes  and  gets  into  the  wrong  house,  or  has 
been  deceived  about  the  wealth  of  his  victims; 
and  if  he  discovers  that  he  has  robbed  a  poor 
man,  or  one  who  cannot  conveniently  bear  the 

1  "Tramping  with  Tramps,"  p.  22. 


230  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

loss,  he  is  ashamed  and  never  enjoys  the  plunder 
thus  won." 

It  looks  as  though  the  criminal  were  an  aver- 
age sort  of  man  with  several  partially  contradic- 
tory systems  of  ideas,  wherein  he  is  much  like  the 
rest  of  mankind.  He  differs  from  those  of  us 
who  by  courtesy  are  called  "normal,"  in  the  nat- 
ure of  his  ideas  and  in  the  sorts  of  contradictions 
which  prevail  among  them.  His  ethics  makes 
him  faithful  to  his  friends,  which  is  not  always 
true  of  non-criminals,  and  the  same  code  justi- 
fies him  in  taking  money  from  those  who,  in  his 
judgment,  need  it  less  than  he  himself.  In  this 
last  characteristic  his  dissent  from  modern  busi- 
ness procedure  is  more  a  difference  of  method  than 
of  fact.  Circumstances  have  doubtless  caused  this 
slight  divergence.  It  certainly  is  not  always  lack 
of  ability,  for,  according  to  Flynt,  they  "are  often 
gifted  with  talents  which  would  enable  them  to 
do  well  in  any  class  could  they  only  be  brought 
to  realize  their  responsibilities  and  to  take  advan- 
tage of  opportunities."  The  hierarchy  of  ideas 
amid  which  those  men  grew  up  evidently  played 
a  tremendously  important  part  in  shaping  their 
ideals  of  conduct.  This  is  shown,  among  other 
things,  by  their  double  system  of  ethics.  Hered- 
ity might  be  invoked  to  explain  their  social  an- 

1  Flynt,  op.  cit.,  pp.  23-24. 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING        231 

tagonisms  were  it  not  for  the  contradictions  which 
they  so  often  manifest  to  those  anti-social  atti- 
tudes. They  are  not  made  up  wholly  of  social 
antagonisms.  Their  altruism  among  their  fellows, 
mentioned  by  Flynt,  their  keen,  if  novel,  feeling 
for  justice,  which  forbids  robbing  the  poor,  and 
their  readiness  for  new  adaptations,  amounting 
often  to  a  complete  reorganization  of  ideas  and 
habits  of  action,  as  seen  in  the  Colorado  prison- 
ers, cannot  be  accounted  for  by  a  theory  of  fixed 
heredity. 

If  we  regard  the  criminal  impulses  of  these  men 
as  racial  instincts  cultivated  in  a  vicious  environ- 
ment during  early  life,  the  contradictions  and  re- 
adaptations  become  intelligible.  The  problem  of 
ethical  growth  in  children  then  becomes  largely 
a  question  of  instincts  either  properly  developed 
or  else  deferred  to  a  period  when  they  are  no 
longer  dominating  forces.  The  racial  impulses 
tend  toward  the  primitive  life.  These  instincts, 
as  we  have  seen,  are  legitimate  in  children,  but 
if  allowed  to  mature  in  the  primitive  manner  into 
adult  life,  they  produce  an  habitual  criminal. 
Some  of  the  ways  in  which  these  impulses  may  be 
controlled  and  utilized  for  mental  and  moral 
growth  have  been  discussed  in  preceding  chapters. 
The  essential  point  here  is  that  when  they  are  di- 
verted into  educative  channels  by  putting  respon- 


232  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

sibility  and  authority  upon  the  boys,  or  through 
adventurous  actions  which  both  satisfy  the  racial 
longing  and  lead  to  social  judgments,  the  primi- 
tive mode  of  expression  of  the  racial  instincts  may 
be  deferred  till  their  virulent  period  has  passed. 
Meanwhile  habits  of  ethical  conduct  are  estab- 
lished. 

The  struggle  to  fit  into  the  conditions  of  their 
environment  is  just  as  intense  a  problem  for  chil- 
dren as  for  adults.  Boys  are  continually  trying, 
in  a  more  or  less  random  fashion,  to  cope  success- 
fully with  the  situations  that  confront  them.  It 
is  the  method  of  trial  and  error,  and  the  action 
finally  adopted  is  the  one  which  secures  the  de- 
sired result.  Intelligence  does  not  yet  play  a 
leading  part  in  determining  action.  The  reason 
for  this  is  that  the  experience  which  would  fur- 
nish the  means  of  judging  results  is  lacking  in 
children.  Consequently  their  efforts  to  succeed 
are  more  or  less  fortuitous,  depending  on  the  ag- 
gregation of  circumstances.  The  estimate  of  re- 
sults is,  of  course,  a  relative  one.  The  standard 
of  success  is  created  by  the  environment,  and 
adaptation  to  this  standard  is  enforced  by  the 
prevailing  sentiment. 

The  great  mass  of  boys  are  left  to  situations 
that  arise  from  chance.  The  conditions  surround- 
ing them  are  unplanned,  as  with  the  lower  ani- 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING         233 

mals.  Now,  the  same  adaptations  prevail  in  man 
as  in  the  animals  below  him.  The  difference 
between  the  two  in  this  respect  consists  in  the 
greater  ability  of  man  to  foresee  results  and 
profit  by  experience.  Children,  as  we  have  seen, 
lack  the  experience  from  which  they  might  profit, 
consequently  the  ethical  problem  is  to  surround 
them  with  conditions  which  shall  stimulate  the 
desired  reaction.  The  superior  intelligence  of  the 
adult  lays  this  duty  upon  him.  We  have  the 
problem  of  directing  intelligence,  for  nature  can- 
not do  this  intelligently,  since  it  is  itself  unintelli- 
gent. The  situations  which  it  creates  are  chance 
variations.  Man,  on  the  other  hand,  can  decide 
upon  desirable  lines  of  progress  and  create  condi- 
tions which  will  call  out  new  adaptations  in  the 
youth.  In  doing  this  he  is  not  overruling  nat- 
ure, but  is  simply  employing  its  forces  intelli- 
gently. 

Talking,  in  conjunction  with  the  rod,  has  al- 
ways been  a  favorite  means  of  moral  training.  It 
is  the  easiest  way  and  is  agreeable  to  the  speaker. 
Expounding  one's  ideas  is  a  pleasant  occupation. 
It  gives  one  a  comfortable  feeling  of  moral  worth 
to  be  setting  the  world  right.  But  advice  can 
never  outweigh  the  conditions  of  life  which  op- 
pose it.  The  efficient  way  is  to  beset  children 
with  situations  which  appeal  to  them  as  creations 


234  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

of  their  .own  thoughts.  Then  they  react  toward 
them  as  they  do  toward  their  games,  with  enthu- 
siasm and  frankness.  Thus  morality  becomes  an 
integral  part  of  their  school  business,  and  its  ob- 
servance is  enforced  by  the  group  sentiment  among 
the  children  which  forbids  deception,  loafing,  or 
unfairness.  In  this  way  the  double  system  of 
morality  so  commonly  found  in  schools  is  elim- 
inated, and  the  children  grow  into  the  feeling 
that  the  mental  and  moral  life  are  not  separate 
compartments  to  be  opened  or  closed  according 
to  convenience  or  utility. 

Children  act  morally  long  before  they  know 
why  they  do  so.  The  discussion  of  principles  of 
conduct  comes  later.  Indeed  it  is  a  mistake  to 
make  boys  and  girls  overconscious  of  ethical  mo- 
tives. For  this  reason  a  period  set  apart  for 
moral  instruction  is  likely  to  be  disastrous.  The 
instructing  attitude  regarding  conduct  is  always 
resented.  The  entire  school-work  should  be  a 
continuous  exhibition  of  moral  action,  and  the 
greater  the  freedom  allowed,  the  more  spontane- 
ous and  habitual  will  the  conduct  become.  Coer- 
cion and  restraint  are  effective  only  so  long  as 
the  pressure  is  on.  Excitement  is  seething  be- 
neath, and  the  moment  the  restraining  force  is 
relaxed,  disorder  boils  over.  Social  discontent 
never  fermented  more  in  Germany  or  gained  so 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING        235 

many  adherents  as  under  the  iron  rule  of  Bis- 
marck, when  even  the  pastor  of  the  American 
church  in  Berlin  was  unable  to  secure  permission 
to  hold  Sunday  evening  meetings  in  his  house 
without  the  presence  of  a  policeman.  The  same 
condition  of  suppressed  disorder  is  observed  in 
schools  which  are  controlled  merely  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  teacher.  The  only  effective  order 
is  that  which  arises  in  the  co-operation  of  the 
governed  with  those  in  control. 

Self-assertion  and  the  desire  for  activity  domi- 
nate childhood.  At  first  this  self-assertion  is 
individualistic.  If  children  play  together,  each 
manages  to  a  large  extent  his  own  game.  Later, 
as  we  shall  find,  this  individualism  becomes 
merged  in  the  group  and  the  gang  spirit  arises. 
Instead  of  every  boy's  playing  his  own  game  they 
now  follow  a  leader  and  personal  glory  gives  way 
to  the  success  of  the  team.  These  characteristics 
should  be  turned  to  the  advantage  of  mental  and 
moral  development  in  the  school.  Children  can 
be  made  to  do  anything  if  they  are  only  con- 
vinced that  responsibility  rests  upon  them.  An 
illustration  will  show  how  this  works  out. 

A  nine-year-old  boy  living  in  one  of  the  dirty 
alleys  of  Philadelphia  was  dividing  his  time  be- 
tween attending  school  and  playing  truant,  the 
latter  occupation  receiving  rather  more  than  its 


236  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

due  share  of  attention.  His  face  and  hands  were 
always  dirty,  and  if  his  hair  had  ever  been  combed, 
the  record  of  this  fact  was  lost.  Whenever  he 
condescended  to  be  present,  he  was  engaged  in 
asserting  his  individuality  by  annoying  his  fellow- 
pupils  and  teacher.  One  day  the  school  was  or- 
ganized into  a  self-governing  municipality,  and 
Tommy,  to  the  dismay  of  his  teacher,  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  council.  It  certainly  did  not 
promise  well  for  the  success  of  the  plan  if  the 
children  would  put  the  worst  boy  of  the  school 
in  control.  The  following  day,  however,  Tommy 
came  promptly,  and  the  transformation  was  won- 
derful. Buttons  had  been  sewed  on  to  his  clothes, 
his  hands  and  face  were  clean  and  his  hair  combed. 
The  next  day  he  was  again  on  time,  and  he  was 
just  as  neat  as  on  the  previous  day;  and,  stranger 
still,  the  change  was  permanent.  He  did  not 
play  truant.  He  improved  in  his  studies,  and  in- 
stead of  being  at  the  foot  of  his  class,  the  little 
fellow  very  quickly  advanced  to  the  head. 

Six  weeks  afterward  the  teacher,  going  through 
the  room,  stopped  at  his  desk  and  said:  "Tommy, 
I  am  delighted  to  see  how  nicely  you  are  get- 
ting along.  You  have  not  been  absent  once;  be- 
sides you  are  as  neat  as  a  little  gentleman,  and 
you  are  doing  splendidly  in  your  classes."  The 
youngster  looked  up  and  replied:  "You  know 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING         237 

they  expect  so  much  from  a  member  of  the  city 
council."  1 

Children,  we  have  found,  react  according  to  the 
manner  of  treatment  which  they  receive.  Sur- 
round them  with  rules  and  prohibitions  and  they 
will  obey  so  long  as  the  overseer  is  present.  But 
let  them  find  him  off  his  guard  and  they  will  se- 
lect for  their  amusement  the  very  things  which 
have  been  forbidden. 

Now,  the  peculiarity  about  school  is  that  it 
creates  a  situation  against  which  children  rebel 
because  of  the  very  characteristics  which  go  with 
childhood.  They  do  not  object  to  work,  as  is 
seen  in  the  occupations  in  which  they  engage 
many  times  on  holidays.  Nothing  could  be 
harder  than  the  tasks  which  children  impose 
upon  themselves.  They  will  spend  all  of  their 
leisure  time  for  weeks  cutting  trees  and  trimming 
logs  with  which  to  build  a  cabin.  Nor,  again, 
do  they  object  to  mental  work.  Were  proof  of 
this  needed  it  could  be  found  in  the  literary  clubs 
and  debating  societies  for  which  many  hours  are 
given  to  vigorous  study.  Perhaps  it  is  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  tasks  are  put  upon  them,  with 
an  implied  assurance  of  retribution  in  case  of 
failure  and  the  fact  that  the  teacher  assumes  the 
entire  responsibility  for  the  work,  that  dries  up 

1  "The  School  City,"  pp.  8-9. 


238*  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

the  children's  enthusiasm  for  activity.  A  success- 
ful teacher  of  history  in  Charlestown,  Massachu- 
setts, discovered  what  so  many  others  have  no- 
ticed— that  her  pupils  did  only  so  much  work  as 
they  were  compelled  to  do — and  so  decided  to  try 
an  experiment  to  test  the  heresy  that  children  can 
manage  the  recitation  better  than  the  teacher  can 
do  it  for  them.  The  class  was  organized  into  a 
business  meeting.  The  children  elected  a  presi- 
dent and  secretary,  and  each  morning  the  his- 
tory lesson  was  the  business  of  the  day.  As  the 
teacher  told  the  pupils  that  they  were  to  con- 
duct the  recitation  they  were  in  much  perplex- 
ity as  to  what  they  should  do  with  her,  but  finally 
it  was  decided  to  call  her  the  executive  officer. 
The  president  called  on  different  members  of  the 
class  to  report  on  topics  in  the  lesson.  If  a  re- 
port was  inadequate,  some  one  rose  to  make  cor- 
rections or  additions.  When  none  of  them  could 
state  the  facts  correctly,  the  subject  was  laid  over 
as  unfinished  business  until  the  next  meeting.  In 
her  description  of  the  work  the  teacher  says: 
"The  roll-call  and  report  [of  the  secretary  on 
the  review  lesson]  were  sometimes  finished  in  five 
minutes,  the  lesson  of  the  day  in  thirty  more,  and 
we  found  ourselves  with  ten  minutes  to  spare. 
There  were  various  suggestions  as  to  what  we 
had  better  do  with  the  extra  time.  One  was  that 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING        239 

they  take  longer  lessons;  and  this  led  us  into  the 
habit  of  letting  them  assign  their  own  lessons; 
and  they  always  took  longer  ones  than  I  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  giving. 

"Another  suggestion  was  that  the  scholars  col- 
lect pictures  and  show  them  to  the  class  during 
the  spare  minutes.  One  boy  said  he  didn't  have 
much  luck  finding  pictures,  but  he  would  like  to 
read  things  in  other  books  and  tell  them  to  the 
class.  A  girl  asked  if  she  might  draw  some  pict- 
ures from  a  book  in  the  library,  and  still  another 
boy  asked  permission  to  go  over  to  the  art  mu- 
seum with  his  camera  to  take  photographs  of  the 
things  there  that  were  connected  with  our  work. 
We  did  all  these  things  and  many  more.  One  sug- 
gestion led  to  the  richest  development  of  all  the 
work  of  the  year.  The  classes  formed  themselves 
into  little  informal  clubs,  met  at  recess  and  after 
school,  and  decided  what  each  would  do  to  con- 
tribute something  interesting  to  the  lessons. 

"One  boy  who  had  tried  several  times  without 
success  to  get  a  chance  to  talk  asked  me:  'Do 
you  suppose  I  shall  ever  get  a  chance  to  tell  what 
I've  found  about  Vestal  virgins?'  I  told  him  to 
keep  on  trying,  and  finally  he  found  his  chance. 
Another  boy  wanted  to  describe  a  Roman  house. 
He  felt  the  need  of  a  large  plan  to  show  the  class, 
and,  as  he  himself  could  not  draw,  he  asked  one 


240  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

of  the  girls  in  the  drawing  club  to  help  him.  She 
made  him  a  beautiful  pen-and-ink  sketch  of  the 
ground  plan  of  a  Roman  villa.  Still  another  boy, 
who  was  especially  interested  in  Pompeii,  had 
been  to  considerable  trouble  to  get  a  certain  col- 
lection of  Pliny's  letters  from  the  central  library. 
He  had  read  one  of  the  letters  describing  the 
eruption  of  Vesuvius  to  the  class,  and  some  time 
afterward  he  said  to  me:  'If  we  have  time  to-day 
may  I  read  another  letter  from  Pliny?'  'Isn't 
that  book  overdue?'  I  asked.  'Yes,'  he  answered, 
'but  there's  another  letter  in  it  that  the  rest  ought 
to  hear.'  He  was  willing  to  pay  the  fine  so  that 
they  might  hear  it."  1 

The  spirit  of  the  recitation  changed  as  soon  as 
the  work  was  put  in  the  hands  of  the  children. 
The  enthusiasm  was  contagious.  But  still  there 
were  several  who  lagged  behind  the  others.  Then, 
as  the  teacher  has  informed  the  writer  in  a  letter, 
one  of  the  boys  said  that  he  believed  he  could 
bring  them  up  if  he  were  made  president.  The 
others  at  once  gave  him  the  chance,  and  he  suc- 
ceeded in  nearly  all  the  cases. 

An  incident  which  occurred  in  the  class  indi- 
cated the  moral  effect  of  giving  children  oppor- 
tunity to  control  themselves.  "The  discipline  of 

'"Group-work  in  the  High-School,"  by  Lotta  A.  Clark,  Elemen- 
tary School  Teacher,  vol.  7,  p.  335. 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING         241 

these  classes  was  the  easiest  I  have  ever  had," 
continues  the  teacher,  "and  became  almost  en- 
tirely unnecessary  as  the  year  went  on.  On  one 
memorable  occasion  a  boy  forgot  himself  and  was 
severely  reprimanded.  The  next  day  the  secre- 
tary described  the  whole  occurrence  minutely  in 
her  report.  It  nearly  took  my  breath  away  and 
met  with  a  storm  of  protest  from  the  class.  We 
had  the  report  carefully  reread,  and,  on  finding 
that  every  word  of  it  was  perfectly  true  and  proper, 
the  class  accepted  the  report,  and  it  was  placed 
on  file  with  the  rest.  There  was  no  more  unsat- 
isfactory conduct  to  report  in  that  section." 

Now,  the  difference  between  these  business- 
meeting  recitations  and  those  of  the  ordinary 
school  was  that  in  the  former  case  the  pupils 
felt  that  the  work  was  their  own.  They  were 
directing  it  and  they  were  responsible  for  its  suc- 
cess or  failure.  When  children  are  carrying  out 
plans  which  they  have  agreed  upon,  they  have  no 
patience  with  loafers.  At  such  a  time  work  and 
fair  play  are  the  basis  of  their  ethics.  The  peda- 
gogical attitude  puts  the  responsibility  upon  the 
teacher,  and  children,  like  the  rest  of  us,  are  very 
willing  to  shift  obligations.  This  method  fails  to 
accomplish  the  best  results  because  it  puts  the 
teacher  and  the  children  into  different  if  not  op- 
posing camps.  It  does  not  appeal  to  the  boys' 
system  of  ethics. 


242  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

Activity  is,  in  a  large  measure,  the  test  of  intelli- 
gence. Among  the  lower  animals  this  activity  is 
limited  to  movements  adapted  to  self-preserva- 
tion and  play.  With  the  advent  of  man,  however, 
action  assumed  a  new  meaning.  It  was  no  longer 
restricted  to  immediate  ends.  Plans  of  a  wider 
reach  were  then  formed  and  man  became  a  con- 
structive thinker.  We  are  unable  to  say  whether 
the  Pithecanthropus  erectus  was  born  a  man  be- 
cause his  arboreal  grandparents  learned  to  do  a 
little  better  thinking  than  their  anthropoid  cous- 
ins, or  whether  man  is  only  a  mutation  freak  of 
nature,  but  in  any  case  his  entire  subsequent  de- 
velopment is  due  to  the  necessity  which  nature 
forced  upon  him  of  using  this  newly  acquired 
power.  It  was  a  slow  process — extending  through 
many  hundred  thousand  years — by  which  prehis- 
toric man  gained  effective  control  of  this  strangely 
new  power  of  constructive  thought,  and  through- 
out the  whole  period  his  teacher  was  the  experi- 
ence secured  from  his  efforts  to  adjust  himself  to 
the  situations  which  threatened  his  own  destruc- 
tion and  the  extinction  of  the  race. 

The  development  of  children  parallels  in  many 
respects  the  history  of  our  savage  ancestors.  The 
sins  for  which  Adam  received  the  blame  were  the 
virtues  of  primitive  man.  Recognition  of  this  has 
revolutionized  moral  training.  The  devil  is  no 
longer  driven  out  of  children  with  the  whip,  but 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING         243 

he  is  given  opportunity  for  exercising  his  satanic 
ingenuity  in  ways  that  make  for  growth  in  social 
virtues. 

We  have  not  yet  learned,  however,  to  utilize 
the  method  of  racial  growth.  From  the  earliest 
savage  of  the  cave  period  to  the  present  time, 
man  has  gained  his  experience  by  action,  and  ac- 
tion is  just  the  thing  that  schools  do  not  encour- 
age. To  be  sure  manual  training  has  become 
popular,  and  playgrounds  are  now  receiving  some 
attention,  but,  except  for  these,  action  as  an  ele- 
ment in  education  begins  and  ends  with  the  kin- 
dergarten. Our  present  school  method  of  requir- 
ing children  to  sit  quietly  while  they  study  the 
lessons  which  they  are  to  recite,  is  inherited  from 
the  Middle  Ages,  though  one  must,  of  course, 
admit  that  raising  them  from  the  floor  to  desk 
seats  is  one  step  upward.  A  new  science  of  school 
hygiene  has  arisen,  a  large  part  of  which  is  con- 
cerned with  the  problem  of  how  seats  should  be 
constructed  in  order  that  children  may  be  kept 
in  them  longest  without  injury.  But  the  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  they  may  not  make  better 
progress  if  given  the  same  freedom  in  doing  their 
work  as  they  have  when  engaged  in  their  own 
activities  has  hardly  been  discussed. 

The  teacher's  problem  is  evidently  to  create  sit- 
uations which  stimulate  children  to  activity  by 


244  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

appealing  to  the  tribal  instincts  of  the  race. 
Their  own  associates  are  then  the  judges  of  their 
acts,  and  children  never  appeal  their  cases  from 
the  decision  of  this  court.  We  have  found  this 
true  in  pupil-government.  The  reason  for  it,  with 
the  educational  consequences,  will  be  more  fully 
discussed  in  the  following  chapter. 

Traditional  pedagogy  smiles  at  the  idea  of  mak- 
ing children  the  arbiters  of  the  school,  but  this  is 
because  of  man's  fondness  for  exercising  his  power. 
It  is  an  exhibition  in  adults  of  the  racial  instinct 
to  which  we  have  referred  in  earlier  discussions. 
But  in  maturity  the  excuse  for  its  arrogant  use, 
which  may  be  cited  for  children,  does  not  exist. 
Those  who  have  tried  the  experiment  of  making 
children  responsible  for  the  work  and  actions  of 
their  fellows  have  observed  great  improvement  in 
scholarship,  and  discipline  has  taken  care  of  itself. 
Its  value  in  moral  training  consists  in  the  fact 
that,  among  children,  the  public  sentiment  of 
their  fellows  is  both  exacting  and  efficient.  They 
will  combine  against  a  command  of  the  teacher, 
but  they  never  long  resist  a  mandate  of  their 
associates.  An  individual  child  may  be  perverse, 
but  the  pupil-body  when  in  power  will  insist 
that  he  act  with  them  for  the  good  of  the  body 
politic  of  the  school.  This  is  moral  training,  and 
it  frees  the  school  from  the  artificial  organization 


FALLACIES  IN  MORAL  TRAINING         245 

which  makes  it  so  different  from  life  in  the  out- 
side world.  When  the  group  is  made  the  basis  of 
organization  and  action,  children  acquire  habits 
of  industry  and  ethical  conduct  because  of  the  de- 
mands of  school  sentiment.  And  this  calls  out 
the  best  that  there  is  in  them.  It  is  the  basis  of 
social  conduct. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG:    AN  EDUCA- 
TIONAL ASSET 

THE  gang  instinct  is  almost  as  much  a  part  of 
boy  nature  as  is  the  desire  to  swim  or  play  base- 
ball. Sheldon1  found  934  societies  reported  by 
1,139  boys,  and  911  similar  organizations  by 
1,145  girls-  From  another  miscellaneous  collec- 
tion of  1,022  boys,  862  societies  were  reported  by 
Forbush,2  and  Puffer3  says  that  out  of  146  boys 
in  the  Lyman  Industrial  School,  128  were  in 
gangs.  Frequently  a  boy  belonged  to  several  such 
societies.  Finally,  "it  is  safe  to  say  that  three  out 
of  four  boys  belong  to  a  gang,"  according  to  Puffer, 
and  Sheldon,  as  a  result  of  his  investigation,  says : 
"American  children  left  to  themselves,  organize.'* 

The  time  for  the  formation  of  gangs  is  from  ten 
or  eleven  years  of  age  to  about  the  sixteenth 
year.  Under  certain  conditions  the  period  may 
be  extended,  but  when  that  is  the  case  it  usually 
indicates  arrested  development.  Gangs  are  the 
expression  of  primitive  tendencies.  An  environ- 

1  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  vol.  9,  p.  429. 

2  Pedagogical  Seminary,  vol.  7,  p.  313. 

*  Pedagogical  Seminary,  vol.  12,  p.  175. 
246 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  247 

ment  incapable  of  draining  off  these  instincts  into 
channels  which  make  for  social  growth  perpetu- 
ates the  racial  impulses  of  early  man.  Examples 
of  this  are  the  Mafia  secret  society  of  Sicily  and 
the  Camorra  in  Naples,  the  latter  having  recently 
become  prominent  because  of  the  trial  of  some 
of  its  members.  The  history  of  criminology  is 
replete  with  organizations  that  owe  their  exist- 
ence to  the  survival  of  primitive  instincts.1 

Probably  it  is  because  of  the  age  at  which 
gangs  are  normal  that  physical  activity  is  the 
common  bond  of  union.  Sheldon  found  1 1 1  pred- 
atory societies,  406  athletic  clubs,  and  59  indus- 
trial organizations  among  the  boys  to  whom  we 
have  referred  above.  According  to  Forbush,  "pred- 
atory and  athletic  societies  number  77  per  cent. 
Add  to  these  the  industrial,  and  we  have  85^ 
per  cent  of  the  whole."  Some  form  of  physical 
activity  and  sociability  seems  to  have  character- 
ized all  of  the  gangs  to  which  the  Lyman  (reform) 
school  boys  belonged.  This  is,  of  course,  to  be 
expected  in  the  case  of  reform-school  children, 
since  philanthropic,  literary,  and  artistic  ideals, 
the  stimuli  for  organization  among  some  of  the 
other  groups,  had  not  entered  into  their  lives. 
The  names  of  some  of  the  gangs  among  the 

1  Numerous  examples  may  be  found  in  Jacob  A.  Riis's  "How  the 
Other  Half  Live." 


248  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

inmates  of  the  Lyman  school  are  suggestive  of 
the  aims  and  life  of  the  lads.  "The  Eggmen" 
(because  they  robbed  farmers),  "The  Wharf 
Rats"  (because  their  meeting-place  was  a  wharf), 
"Liners,"  and  "Crooks"  are  among  those  men- 
tioned by  Puffer. 

These  kinds  of  gangs  are  the  result  of  a  deep- 
seated  racial  antipathy  to  the  modern  conditions 
of  city  and  school  which  do  not  give  boys  a  chance 
to  live  their  life.  The  very  purposes  of  the  long 
period  of  immaturity  are  ignored  in  the  condi- 
tions which  are  put  upon  children.  Their  bod- 
ily organization  demands  opportunity  to  try  its 
powers  that  nervous  paths  may  be  opened  for 
motor  discharge.  "There  is  plain  evidence  in 
the  reports  of  these  boys,"  says  Puffer  in  a  re- 
cent study1  of  the  gang,  "that  they  were  tired  of 
the  inactivity,  restraint,  and  monotony  of  the 
school  and  longed  for  the  greater  excitement  and 
adventure  outside.  The  boys  who  cannot  run 
away  from  home  get  their  adventures  at  second 
hand  by  way  of  the  theatre." 

"The  theatre,"  Jane  Addams  tells  us,  "has  a 
strange  power  to  forecast  life  for  the  youth.  Each 
boy  comes  from  our  ancestral  past  not  'in  entire 
forgetfulness,'  and  quite  as  he  unconsciously  uses 
ancient  war-cries  in  his  street  play,  so  he  longs  to 

1McClvrf's  Magazine,  October,  1911,  p.  682, 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  249 

reproduce  and  to  see  set  before  him  the  valors 
and  vengeances  of  a  society  embodying  a  much 
more  primitive  state  of  morality  than  that  in 
which  he  finds  himself."  1 

Instances  showing  the  longing  for  real  life — to 
see  something  "doing"  and  to  have  a  share  in 
it — as  a  motive  for  the  genesis  of  gangs  would 
easily  fill  a  volume.  A  typical  case  will  serve  as 
an  illustration.  Other  examples  of  somewhat  dif- 
ferent import  were  cited  in  the  chapter  on  "The 
Spirit  of  Adventure."  The  acts  in  which  gangs 
engage  always  have  a  social  content.  A  group 
may  be  large  or  small,  but  if  the  boys  have  a 
common  purpose  which  binds  them  together  for 
exploits  and  mutual  protection  they  constitute  a 
gang.  In  the  case  of  small  boys,  however,  the 
bond  of  union  often  breaks  when  they  are  caught. 

The  following  instance  was  taken  from  a  recent 
issue  of  a  newspaper.2  Names  and  unessential 
facts  are  omitted. 

Three  very  small  and  very  tearful  youngsters,  whose  fright 
ill  accorded  with  the  warlike  shields,  made  from  the  metal 
tops  of  ash-cans,  and  bags  of  stones,  to  be  used  as  weapons, 
which  hung  from  their  arms  and  shoulders,  were  led  into  the 
Alexander  Avenue  Station,  in  the  Bronx,  last  night  by  four 
big  policemen.  The  boys  tried  hard  to  appear  at  ease,  but 
their  misfortune  overwhelmed  them,  for  of  all  the  members 
of  the  I49th  Street  gang  and  their  hereditary  rivals,  the 

1  "The  Spirit  of  Youth,"  by  Jane  Addams,  pp.  77-78. 
*New  York  Times,  August  28,  1911. 


250  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

Saint  Ann  Avenue  gang,  they  alone  had  fallen  prisoners  to 
the  police. 

They  had  been  taken  when  the  policemen  swept  down 
on  the  battling  gangs  a  few  minutes  before  in  Saint  Mary's 
Park.  There  the  battle  of  stones  had  waged  fiercely  for 
more  than  half  an  hour,  the  i4Qth  Streeters  again  and  again 
braving  the  fire  of  the  Saint  Ann  Avenue  gang  as  they 
stormed  the  hill  in  the  park,  almost  opposite  Beekman  Ave- 
nue, on  which  their  rivals  had  taken  a  stand. 

Gang  fights  have  been  frequent  in  the  neighborhood  for 
several  weeks.  There  has  been  no  ill-feeling  in  the  matter. 
The  question  has  been  a  purely  ethical  one  of  superiority, 
and  since  previous  encounters  had  failed  to  settle  this  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  concerned,  yesterday  was  selected  by  the 
opposing  leaders  for  a  battle  to  a  finish.  Plans  were  formed 
days  ahead,  and  as  a  result  housekeepers  in  the  vicinity  of 
Saint  Mary's  Park,  which  is  bounded  by  Saint  Ann  and  Rob- 
bins  Avenues  and  I4jd  and  I49th  Streets,  have  missed  the 
covers  of  their  ash-cans.  From  these  the  rival  armies  man- 
ufactured shields,  and  for  weapons  they  chose  plain  stones, 
which  could  be  picked  up  in  the  streets  or  vacant  lots.  The 
time  was  set  for  shortly  before  five  o'clock,  and  an  hour 
before  this  the  warriors  began  to  assemble. 

By  vantage  of  a  majority  among  the  early  comers,  the 
Saint  Ann  Avenue  gang  seized  the  hill  and  prepared  to  de- 
fend it  against  the  assault  of  the  I49th  Streeters.  Had  they 
had  their  choice  the  latter  would  have  taken  the  hill,  but 
with  the  arrival  of  their  leader  they  organized  quickly  for  a 
combined  assault  on  the  citadel.  On  the  rising  ground  were 
some  forty-odd  boys,  and  as  many  more,  none  more  than 
fourteen  and  some  less  than  ten  years  old,  gathered  at  the 
foot. 

It  was  raining  a  light  drizzle,  and  the  park  was  deserted. 
Not  a  policeman  was  in  sight.  At  a  signal  the  assault  was 
started,  and  under  cover  of  a  flurry  of  stones  the  raiders 
dashed  for  the  hill.  Then  stones  began  to  fly  thick  and  fast. 
They  bounded  from  the  ash-cover  shields  and  occasionally 
from  the  bodies  of  the  combatants,  but  in  the  heat  of  the 
fray  the  warriors  failed  to  notice  that  a  goodly  number  also 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  251 

whizzed  into  the  street,  where  presently  there  began  to 
sound  the  crash  of  broken  windows  and  the  tinkle  of  falling 
glass. 

A  resident  of  the  neighborhood  saw  a  rock  come  through 
one  of  his  windows  and  he  narrowly  missed  half  a  dozen 
more  when  he  looked  out  of  the  door  to  see  what  was  the 
matter.  It  angered  him  and  he  telephoned  to  the  police. 
It  was  then  the  city  guards  led  a  sortie  against  the  rival 
armies.  For  an  instant  besieged  and  besiegers  thought  of 
making  common  cause  against  the  police,  but  some  one 
quailed  and  presently  the  armies  were  flying  for  their  vari- 
ous homes  at  top  speed. 

According  to  the  police,  a  dozen  windows  had  been  smashed 
in  Saint  Ann  Avenue  and  half  a  dozen  more  in  Beekman 
Avenue.  Therefore  they  charged  their  prisoners  with  juve- 
nile delinquency,  and  locked  them  up. 

Before  supper-time,  however,  hostages  in  the  shape  of  deeds 
for  property  had  been  given,  and  the  warriors  were  led  home 
by  their  respective  parents. 

An  instinct  that  has  such  a  grip  on  boys  as  is 
indicated  by  the  number  of  their  organizations, 
and  which  exercises  a  control  that  brings  all  chil- 
dren under  its  sway,  even  continuing  its  power 
into  early  manhood  when  conditions  are  unsuit- 
able for  outgrowing  it,  seems  to  offer  more  edu- 
cational possibilities  than  have  been  used. 

Sociability  and  activity  are  the  racial  stimu- 
lants behind  boys'  societies.  The  origin  of  both 
impulses  must  be  sought  in  the  lower  animals. 
The  purposes  of  sociability  have  remained  much 
the  same  through  the  ages,  but  with  the  appear- 
ance of  man,  activity  underwent  an  important 
change. 


252  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

The  animals  contemporaneous  with  our  first 
ancestors  had  found  their  place  in  the  world  of 
life.  Nature  had  attended  to  that,  and  the  fact 
of  their  survival  was  its  proof.  Man,  however, 
was  a  novelty  that  lacked  many  elements  of  self- 
protection  possessed  by  his  lower  kin.  He  must 
have  had  to  establish  his  right  to  exist  against 
almost  overwhelming  obstacles.  Probably  it  was 
his  superior  intellect  that  enabled  him  to  survive 
while  he  was  learning  to  adapt  himself  to  condi- 
tions to  which,  in  other  respects,  he  could  hardly 
have  been  so  well  fitted  as  those  from  whom  he 
sprung.  The  ceaseless  dangers  that  surrounded 
him  could  have  left  no  time  for  useless  action. 
He  had  to  work  and,  to  the  extent  of  his  mental 
power,  to  plan  for  self-protection. 

It  was  because  of  this  early  need  for  effective 
action  that  man  became  a  constructive  creature. 
He  is  averse  to  effort  which  he  thinks  useless,  but 
is  keenly  alert  to  do  that  which  is  definite  and 
concrete. 

This  instinct  for  construction  or  "workman- 
ship" is  evidently  the  lever  by  which  children  may 
be  lifted  out  of  their  predatory  exploits  of  sav- 
agery to  the  activities  of  modern  life.  One  of  the 
first  questions,  then,  which  arises  in  this  process 
of  shifting  ideals  is  the  method  of  securing  the 
attention  for  things  that  promote  modern  culture. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  253 

Education  has  been  suffering  lately  from  a  sort 
of  dual  personality.  Its  psychology  and  practice 
move  along  in  more  or  less  parallel  lines  without 
the  one  greatly  interfering  with  the  other.  Evi- 
dence that  interest  does  not  precede  but  always 
follows  attention  to  an  idea  or  group  of  ideas  does 
not  deter  the  enthusiastic  teacher  from  giving  this 
interest  an  external  source  instead  of  ascribing  it 
to  the  mind. 

Just  here  is  where  racial  instincts  with  all  their 
powerful  claim  to  "involuntary"  attention  enter 
directly  into  the  problem.  If,  as  is  generally  ad- 
mitted, "voluntary"  attention  differs  from  "in- 
voluntary" in  the  number  and  sort  of  ideas  which 
are  applicants  for  the  limited  space  in  the  focus 
of  consciousness,  the  very  practical  question  arises 
concerning  the  part  the  educator  may  play  in  this 
contest.  It  looks  as  though  he  enters  the  com- 
petition with  racial  instincts,  so  heavily  handi- 
capped as  hardly  to  be  able  to  show  his  wares. 

The  feelings  have  been  thought  to  be  the  stra- 
tegic base  of  operations  from  which  a  successful 
flanking  movement  could  be  started.  The  innu- 
merable and  disorderly  mental  processes  of  young- 
sters could  then,  it  was  believed,  be  driven  into  a 
narrower  line  of  march,  and  finally,  as  they  be- 
came more  restricted,  be  compelled,  in  sheer  self- 
defence,  to  give  heed  to  the  interesting  ideas 


254  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

which  the  skilful  teachers  always  put  at  the  head 
of  their  attacking  column. 

Unfortunately,  however,  for  this  theory,  a  little 
observation  shows  how  unreliable  are  the  feelings 
and  emotions  when  we  have  marshalled  our  edu- 
cational forces  for  the  attack.  A  college  student 
recently  told  the  writer  that,  after  an  eloquent 
exposition  by  his  professor  of  English  history  of 
the  period  of  George  III,  it  was  mentioned,  as  an 
instance  of  that  monarch's  abstemiousness,  that 
he  always  had  boiled  mutton  and  turnips  for  din- 
ner. Now,  if  there  are  any  articles  of  diet  which 
this  student  abhors,  it  is  boiled  mutton  and  tur- 
nips. Consequently,  all  the  deserving  ideas  re- 
lated to  the  period  of  George  III  were  forced  to 
yield,  for  the  time,  to  the  domination  of  turnips 
and  mutton,  and  when,  the  following  year,  George 
III  was  reached  in  American  history,  all  other 
ideas  were  driven  from  the  consciousness  of  this 
young  man  while  he  breathlessly  waited  again  for 
mutton  and  turnips.  Evidently  the  feelings  are 
an  unsafe  educational  guide,  if  hateful  objects 
and  ideas  may  be  as  attractive  as  those  which  are 
pleasant. 

Again,  rewards  and  penalties  have  seemed  to 
some  to  be  the  effective  means  of  winning  the  at- 
tention. The  first  of  these  fails  on  account  of  the 
uncertainty  of  pupils  regarding  the  sort  of  knowl- 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  255 

edge  which  will  secure  the  reward,  and  the  sec- 
ond is  unproductive  because  the  teacher  and  the 
implied  punishment  are  too  prominent  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  youthful  learner  for  efficient 
concentration.  Further,  both  of  these  incentives 
divide  the  attention.  The  prerequisite  of  a  pro- 
ductive state  of  consciousness  is  that  all  diverting 
ideas  and  objects,  including  the  teacher  himself, 
pass  out  of  consciousness  and  leave  the  field  free 
for  the  competitive  interaction  of  the  mental  proc- 
esses created  by  the  work  in  hand.  Ideas  may 
be  forced  upon  children  while  the  native  impulses 
are  restrained  by  penalties,  much  as  one  may  be 
compelled  to  eat  what  does  not  suit  one's  taste,  but 
the  mind  refuses  to  react,  just  as  gastric  juice  is 
stingy  of  its  flow  when  food  is  unattractive. 

We  have  seen  that  the  growing  points  in  elemen- 
tary and  secondary  education  are  the  various  types 
of  schools  for  delinquents.  The  reason  for  this, 
as  has  been  said,  is  that  the  boys  in  these  schools 
are  so  much  the  primitive  man  that  the  tradi- 
tional plan  of  education  breaks  down  completely 
when  applied  to  them.  On  this  account,  the 
experimental  method,  which  until  recently  was 
regarded  as  so  heretical  as  to  justify  the  excommu- 
nication of  its  advocates  from  communion  with 
righteous  pedagogues,  was  forced  upon  those  in 
charge.  The  result  is  that  delinquents  have  the 


256  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

best  schools.  And  they  secured  them  by  refus- 
ing to  submit  to  the  traditional  method. 

Not  the  least  curious  thing  about  these  disci- 
plinary schools  is  that  they  require  less  discipline 
than  the  ordinary  school.  Of  course,  a  dose  of 
disciplinary  medicine  is  sometimes  necessary  at 
the  beginning.  It  has  much  the  same  value  as 
that  which  David  Harum  attributed  to  fleas  on  a 
dog.  Too  sudden  a  break  with  one's  past  is  likely 
to  prove  disastrous. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  disciplinary 
schools  and  reformative  institutions  deal  with 
youngsters  who  cannot  be  controlled  in  the  or- 
dinary school.  To  be  able,  under  these  circum- 
stances, to  produce  in  the  majority  of  boys  a  con- 
dition of  consciousness  attentive  to  study  and  to 
develop  a  mental  attitude  responsive  to  social  in- 
centives is  certainly  remarkable. 

Instances  of  unusual  influence  over  pupils  have 
been  noticed  at  times,  but  such  successes  are  gen- 
erally explained  by  the  vague  term,  personality. 
The  method  of  these  teachers,  however,  is  strik- 
ingly similar.  They  secure  attention  to  their 
ideas  by  identifying  them  with  the  racial  in- 
stincts characteristic  of  boys. 

Attention  is  an  attitude  of  mind  that  is  condi- 
tioned by  the  mental  content.  In  the  more  ma- 
ture, many  derived  interests  cluster  around  de- 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  257 

sire  for  success,  but  in  children  these  controlling 
elements  only  occasionally  exist.  The  problem  of 
the  schools,  therefore,  is  to  capture  a  purposeless, 
wayward  attention  often  enough,  and  to  hold  it 
long  enough,  to  impress  the  mind  with  the  signifi- 
cance of  a  few  derived  interests  which  may  serve 
as  a  new  base  of  operations  from  which  to  push 
on  to  further  development.  One's  attitude  to- 
ward knowledge  depends  upon  the  mental  con- 
tent. The  ideas  and  activities  of  children  are  the 
stuff  out  of  which  their  thoughts  are  made.  In 
early  life  this  material  is  social,  and  it  is  social 
because  it  is  racial. 

Johnson  says1  that  the  children  in  his  vacation 
school  preferred  "to  submit  to  a  flogging  as  evi- 
dence that  they  sincerely  intended  to  resist  temp- 
tation" to  disobey,  "rather  than  to  stay  away 
from  school."  "Nearly  every  species  of  butter- 
fly to  be  found  in  Andover  [Mass.]  during  the 
season  was  captured"  by  his  children.  Many 
kinds  of  caterpillars  were  watched  as  they  devel- 
oped into  chrysalides  in  the  cages,  and  nearly  all 
the  different  kinds  of  fishes  to  be  found  in  the 
streams  and  ponds  were  caught  and  studied. 
Much  of  this  work  was  done  outside  of  school 
hours.  Think  what  it  would  mean  if  enthusiasm 
like  this  could  be  transferred  to  every  branch  of 
student  pursuit! 

1  Pedagogical  Seminary,  vol.  6,  p.  5 16. 


258  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

Boys  organize  because  it  is  their  nature  to  herd 
together.  Self-protection  was  probably  the  in- 
centive to  gregariousness  in  the  lower  animals, 
and  with  the  appearance  of  man  this  same  im- 
pulse to  unite  in  bands  gained  increased  strength 
from  his  helplessness  against  the  fierce  animals 
by  which  he  was  surrounded.  Like  all  primitive 
tendencies,  this  gregarious  instinct  is  natural  to 
children  at  a  certain  age,  but  indicates  arrested 
development  when  it  continues  dominant  into 
early  manhood.  This  is  the  case  with  those  young 
men  of  twenty  years  and  upward  whose  shooting 
carnivals  find  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  head- 
lines of  daily  papers.  The  interesting  fact  about 
these  abnormal  cases  is  that  along  with  the  prim- 
itive brutality  which  makes  such  men  a  menace 
to  society,  they  also  retain  some  of  the  virtues 
which  characterize  the  gang  at  the  normal  age. 
They  are  faithful  to  the  moral  code  of  the  gang 
even  to  the  extent  of  protecting  those  who  have 
grievously  injured  them.  They  accept  defeat 
calmly  and  die  unavenged  rather  than  violate 
the  ethics  of  the  gang  by  betraying  the  one  who 
committed  the  crime.  "There  is  no  good  telling 
you  anything;  I  don't  want  to  help  the  cops,"  1 
said  a  dying  man  of  twenty-eight  to  a  friend  who 
asked  who  shot  him. 

1  Saint  Louis  Globe-Democrat,  and  Post-Dispatch,  December  26, 
1911. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  259 

It  is  the  ready-made  organization  and  its  code 
of  ethics  of  which  we  have  been  speaking  that 
gives  the  gang  its  educational  importance.  Fail- 
ure to  recognize  these  social  relations  of  boys  and 
to  utilize  them  in  the  educative  process  places 
teachers  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  strongest 
forces  of  youth.  The  school  with  the  "open 
shop"  is  a  failure.  Teachers  must  recognize  the 
children's  union. 

The  modern  school-master  has  his  own  way  of 
doing  things.  Anything  that  smacks  of  compro- 
mise with  his  pupils  is  abhorrent  to  his  nature. 
Their  lessons  are  to  be  learned  because  he  assigns 
them,  and  order  is  to  be  maintained  at  his  behest. 
Yet,  after  all,  habits  of  study  and  behavior  are 
not  best  acquired  under  constraint.  Self-control 
— the  condition  to  which  training  should  lead — 
depends  upon  ideas  and  the  more  or  less  per- 
fected thought  systems  into  which  they  are  or- 
ganized, and,  in  children,  this  is  a  matter  of 
growth  through  experiences  that  establish  habits 
of  action.  Compulsion  should  come  from  cir- 
cumstances which  impel  to  right  conduct  rather 
than  originate  in  authority  that  gains  its  power 
from  the  fear  which  it  produces.  But  control 
through  authority  and  fear  is  in  the  line  of  least 
resistance  because  it  is  the  method  of  the  lower 
animals  and  of  primitive  man.  Consequently  it 


260  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

does  not  require  the  expenditure  of  energy  that 
thinking  exacts.  The  responsibility  for  this  in- 
ertia in  school  matters  may  often  be  traced  back 
to  the  board  of  education  and  even  to  the  parents. 
"If  we  try  to  do  anything  out  of  the  usual  the 
parents  complain  and  a  member  of  the  board 
comes  to  the  school  and  orders  it  stopped,"  said 
a  superintendent  in  a  small  town.  "We  are  not 
even  allowed  to  show  it  to  him  or  to  explain  the  ad- 
vantages." One  is  reminded  of  Mark  Twain's  ob- 
servation: "In  the  first  place  God  made  idiots.  This 
was  for  practice.  Then  he  made  school  boards."  1 

We  said  a  moment  ago  that  the  significance  of 
the  gang  lies  in  its  system  of  ethics  and  in  the 
fact  that  it  has  an  organization  ready  for  any  use. 
The  code  of  morals  of  the  youngsters  grows  out 
of  their  social  relations.  Boys  of  the  gang  age 
have  no  respect  for  a  tale-bearer,  or  for  a  "sissy," 
and  they  punish  with  the  utmost  severity  any 
associate  who  is  not  square. 

A  boy  who  had  so  recently  joined  a  self-govern- 
ing newsboys'  association  that  he  was  unfamiliar 
with  the  way  in  which  they  did  business  was 
handed  twenty-five  cents  for  a  morning  paper. 
"He  had  no  change,  but  excused  himself  to  'step 
across  the  way  to  get  it.'  Instead  of  going  into 
the  store  the  boy  started  on  a  run  around  the 

1  "Following  the  Equator,"  p.  597. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  261 

building  and  was  soon  lost  from  sight.  *I  might 
have  expected  it,'  remarked  the  gentleman  to  a 
friend.  This  was  overheard  by  two  newsboys. 
One  said:  'Oh,  no,  mister,  your  money  is  not  lost. 
We'll  have  it  for  you  in  ten  minutes.  Don't  you 
be  uneasy.  You  stand  right  where  you  are  for  a 
few  minutes.' 

"Away  ran  the  boys,  one  going  to  the  right, 
the  other  to  the  left,  and  a  third,  who  took  to 
the  alley,  joined  them.  In  less  than  ten  minutes 
the  boy  was  brought  to  bay  and  appeared  before 
the  gentleman.  An  apology  was  given  and  the 
money  returned. 

"Don't  you  say  anything  to  him,'  said  one 
of  the  newsboys;  'we  won't  do  a  thing  to  him, 
oh,  no.'  The  man  soon  forgot  the  incident,  and 
will  never  know  the  severe  punishment  that  boy 
had  to  bear.  They  took  him  into  the  alley, 
bumped  his  head  against  the  wall  of  the  building, 
rolled  him  in  the  mud,  took  his  badge  from  him, 
and  with  a  parting  word  of  advice  left  him.  The 
badge  was  turned  over  to  the  president  [of  the 
association]  with  instructions  to  return  it  to  the 
boy  at  the  expiration  of  fifteen  days.  What  for? 
The  president  did  not  know  and  only  learned  the 
particulars  a  month  later  from  one  of  the  officers. 
The  boy  called  for  his  badge,  and  it  was  given 
to  him  without  a  word. 


262  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

"The  books  show  that  this  same  boy,  after 
leaving  the  junior  grade  in  school,  procured  a  good 
position  and  the  proprietor  particularly  called  at- 
tention to  him  for  a  peculiar  trait.  'The  boy  ap- 
plied for  work — office  work.  We  gave  him  a  job. 
He  asked  particularly  how  many  hours  he  must 
work,  when  he  was  to  begin  and  when  to  stop. 
This  given,  we  were  surprised  to  see  that  he  was 
at  the  office  every  morning  two  hours  before  his 
time  and  pegging  away  at  a  typewriter.  His 
wages  have  been  increased  three  times.  He'll  be 
one  of  the  firm  before  we're  through  with  him. 

"'The  only  recommendation  he  had  was  that  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Boyville  Newsboys'  Asso- 
ciation— and  this  we  took.  In  fact  it  proved  a 
better  recommendation  than  that  offered  by  his 
mother,  who  called  to  get  a  part  of  his  wages  to 
purchase  whiskey.'"  1 

And  yet  teachers  insist  that  they  cannot  be 
expected  to  overcome  bad  home  influences !  These 
newsboys  did  not  have  even  such  contact  with 
this  lad  as  the  schools  have  with  their  pupils, 
but  they  changed  him  into  a  man.  Teachers  have 
not  made  a  beginning  in  the  use  of  social  forces  for 
education.  Boys  when  organized  for  self-govern- 
ment instinctively  train  one  another  better  than 
teachers,  with  all  their  learning,  train  them.  But 

1  "Boyville,"  by  John  E.  Gunckel,  pp.  99-101. 


THE   SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  263 

what  are  some  of  the  ideals  which  are  put  before 
them  ? 

Puffer,1  in  his  recent  study  of  the  gang,  found 
that  the  leaders  excel  the  others  in  truthfulness, 
perseverance,  generosity,  bravery,  reason,  shrewd- 
ness, and  independence.  These  are  pretty  good 
qualities  for  boys  to  emulate.  Shrewdness  is  the 
only  one  about  which  there  can  be  any  question, 
but  shrewdness  when  tempered  with  truthfulness 
and  generosity  is,  after  all,  not  so  bad.  Boys 
certainly  might  be  under  worse  training,  espe- 
cially when  we  find  that  mental  brightness  and 
attention  to  the  thing  in  hand  are  joined  with  the 
other  qualities  which  boys  admire  in  their  leaders. 
If  these  are  among  the  virtues  of  the  gang,  and 
we  must  not  forget  that  Puffer  investigated  a 
crowd  of  selected  "bad  boys,"  i.  e.,  reform-school 
children,  the  question  is  how  to  avail  ourselves  of 
these  ideals  in  the  development  of  children.  This 
is  where  the  ready-made  organization  comes  in. 
Let  us  see  how  it  may  be  used. 

A  teacher  of  wide  experience  was  placed  in 
charge  of  a  school  which  had  always  borne  a  bad 
name.  He  had  a  reputation  as  a  disciplinarian, 
and  that  was  the  reason  for  his  selection.  He 
found  no  difficulty  in  keeping  order  in  the  rooms 
when  he  was  about.  His  size  and  eye  were  enough 

1  McClure's  Magazine,  October,  1911. 


264  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

for  that,  but  the  complaints  of  the  neighbors  did 
not  cease.  Garbage  pails  and  ash-cans  contin- 
ued to  be  overturned,  and  nothing  which  the  boys 
could  lay  their  hands  on  was  safe.  The  teacher 
discovered  also  that,  like  his  predecessors,  he 
could  not  rely  on  anything  the  boys  told  him. 
Notes  of  excuse  were  forged,  and  it  was  necessary 
to  keep  the  doors  of  the  building  locked  until  his 
arrival.  The  principal  set  apart  a  period  for 
moral  instruction,  but  the  boys  winked  at  one 
another  while  he  was  talking  and  during  recess 
laughed  at  what  he  had  said.  It  was  too  humili- 
ating for  one  of  his  experience  and  reputation,  so 
he  resigned. 

His  successor  had  no  recommendations  except 
the  successful  management  of  a  boys'  club  in  a 
neighboring  town.  His  selection  was  due  to  the 
fact  that  no  one  of  experience  was  available.  The 
school  had  already  wrecked  too  many  reputations. 

It  is  impossible  to  analyze  the  reasons  for  the 
success  of  a  good  teacher.  Personality  is  too  com- 
plex. But  before  the  boys  knew  just  what  had 
happened  the  new  teacher  was  a  member  of  their 
gang. 

It  turned  out  that  the  boys  had  no  evening 
loafing  place  except  the  street,  so  the  school  was 
opened  for  them.  There  was  no  attempt  to  make 
the  evening  intellectual.  Games  of  various  sorts 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  265 

were  played.  Whatever  the  boys  called  for  was 
in  order.  The  leader  of  the  group  was  soon  known. 
This  came  out  in  the  natural  course  of  events. 
And,  after  that,  he  was  frequently  called  into  con- 
sultation by  the  principal.  Strange  ideas  came  to 
this  leader  through  these  conferences.  They  were 
so  different  from  those  to  which  his  followers  had 
been  accustomed!  No  one  knew  where  he  ob- 
tained them.  He  himself  did  not  know.  He 
thought  they  were  his  own,  and  so  they  were. 
But  then,  of  course,  the  thoughts  of  all  of  us  grow 
out  of  the  situations  in  which  we  are  placed  or 
are  suggested  by  conversations.  It  does  not  mat- 
ter how  the  ideas  came  to  him.  The  important 
thing  is  that  he  felt  them  as  his  own  and  that  they 
were  carried  out  with  all  of  the  enthusiasm  which 
boys  put  into  their  impulses. 

Everything  came  out  in  time.  For  several  years 
it  had  been  a  tradition  in  the  gang  to  "beat"  the 
teacher.  There  was  nothing  personal  in  it.  Sev- 
eral of  their  teachers,  the  boys  admitted,  were 
"all  right."  It  was  the  class  to  which  they  be- 
longed that  was  hated.  All  of  the  depredations 
in  the  neighborhood  and  the  petty  thievery  had 
been  directed  against  the  teachers  as  the  visible 
personification  of  the  school.  The  boys  could 
strike  with  less  danger  to  themselves  in  that  way, 
and  it  was  great  fun,  they  said,  to  hear  the  prin- 


266  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

cipal  "talk  morals."  Like  other  boys  they  had 
an  excess  of  energy,  and  no  one  had  known  how 
to  drain  it  off  through  useful  channels.  Their 
teachers  just  tried  to  dam  it  up. 

The  educational  problem,  as  we  have  said,  is  to 
secure  the  attention.  Now,  we  have  seen  that  if 
the  group  consciousness  prevails,  as  it  does  when 
boys  are  ruled  by  the  spirit  of  the  gang,  the  at- 
tention remains  fixed  upon  what  they  are  plan- 
ning to  do.  Boys  will  work  persistently  for  weeks, 
and  even  months,  trying  to  work  out  the  details 
of  what  they  have  set  before  themselves.  If  this 
same  concentration  could  be  fixed  upon  the  work 
of  the  school,  pedagogical  troubles  would  largely 
disappear.  Why  is  it  so  difficult  to  produce  this 
educational  attitude  of  mind?  What  is  the  dif- 
ference between  the  two  sorts  of  occupations? 

Educators  seek  to  secure  attention  for  certain 
ideas  which  make  for  growth,  and  the  difficulty 
is  that  these  ideas,  intended  as  they  are  to  pre- 
pare children  for  the  future  rather  than  the  pres- 
ent, are  likely  to  represent  types  of  experience 
beyond  the  children's  stage  of  development.  One 
cannot  avoid  a  certain  sympathy  with  an  eleven- 
year-old  girl  who,  according  to  her  teacher,  re- 
fused to  try  to  find  how  many  times  a  bucket 
must  be  filled  to  empty  a  circular  well,  the  height 
and  bottom  radius  of  which  were  given,  together 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  267 

with  the  height  and  radii  of  the  bucket,  on  the 
ground  that  no  one  but  a  fool  would  try  to  empty 
a  well  in  that  way.  To  give  attention  to  ideas 
whose  value  is  a  future  asset  requires  rejection  of 
those  of  present  significance,  and  the  mind  re- 
fuses to  make  this  sacrifice  unless  convinced  of 
a  more  deserving  claim.  This  is  the  reason  for 
our  unwillingness  to  listen  to  a  friend  when  we 
are  hurrying  to  a  train. 

Children  sacrifice  the  present  for  the  future 
less  willingly  than  adults  because  the  events  of 
the  moment  are  full  of  meaning  to  them  and  the 
future  has  little  significance.  Progress  in  civili- 
zation has  been  conditioned  by  the  substitution 
of  future  values  for  present  gratification,  and  it  is 
unreasonable  to  expect  children  who  live  in  the 
same  freedom  from  care  as  savages  to  give  anx- 
ious thought  for  the  morrow.  It  would  seem,  then, 
that  the  ideas  for  which  teachers  seek  to  gain  the 
attention  should  be  expressed  in  terms  of  present 
values  to  the  child.  They  must  in  some  way  be 
identified  with  the  things  he  wishes  to  do.  They 
must  have  present  worth. 

To  go  a  step  further,  attention  results  from  the 
mind's  acquiescence  in  the  focal  presence  of  a  par- 
ticular idea  or  group  of  ideas.  This  is  true 
whether  the  attention  be  of  the  so-called  volun- 
tary or  involuntary  variety,  since  the  only  differ- 


268  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

ence  between  the  two  lies  in  the  complexity  of  the 
former.  In  "voluntary"  attention  more  than 
one  attraction  is  offered,  and,  each  presenting  in- 
ducements, the  mind  receives  the  one  with  more 
or  less  consciousness  of  what  it  has  lost  in  giving 
up  the  other.  This  consciousness  of  deprivation, 
together  with  certain  muscular  sensations,  prob- 
ably makes  up  the  feeling  of  effort  which  has 
caused  this  form  of  attention  to  be  popularly 
thought  active.  Attention  means  an  arrangement 
of  the  content  of  consciousness  which  gives  clear- 
ness to  one  idea  or  group  of  ideas  and  produces 
comparative  though  not  equal  obscurity  of  the 
others.  Change  of  attention  requires  a  redistribu- 
tion of  the  content,  and  this  is  accompanied  by  a 
rearrangement  of  clearness.  The  change  may  be 
partial  or  complete,  depending  upon  the  operating 
causes  and  upon  the  condition  of  the  mind. 

It  is  the  radical  rearrangement  of  the  content 
of  consciousness  demanded  by  modern  school 
methods  to  which  children  organically  object.  And 
the  better  the  stuff  they  have  in  them  the  more 
vigorous  is  their  resistance.  Teachers  insist  that 
their  pupils  reorganize  their  minds  at  once.  The 
thoughts  which  constitute  childhood  must  be  laid 
aside.  The  social  relations  that  exist  among  them 
because  they  are  living  a  primitive  life  are  to  be 
forgotten,  and,  in  place  of  both,  adult  conceptions 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  269 

are  to  be  substituted.  This  complete  destruction 
of  their  childish  ideas  is  what  children  resist. 
They  refuse  to  attend  to  the  school-work  because 
the  act  of  attending  means  the  annihilation  of 
thoughts  and  things  which  seem  to  them  of 
supreme  importance.  The  place  for  the  empha- 
sis of  their  thoughts  varies  with  their  age,  and  a 
knowledge  of  these  changes  constitutes  an  impor- 
tant branch  of  child  study. 

But  the  school  and  social  ideals  may  become 
the  things  to  which  children  give  attention  when 
these  duties,  to  use  the  phrase  of  adults,  grow 
out  of  their  own  thoughts  and  social  relations. 
Under  these  conditions  there  is  no  mental  break. 
The  pupils  are  not  told  either  directly  or  by  im- 
plication that  their  way  of  looking  at  things  is 
altogether  wrong.  Their  thoughts  are  directed 
into  other  channels  which  offer  views  quite  as 
consistent  with  their  racial  impulses  as  did  the 
earlier  course.  In  other  words,  their  childish  ways 
of  acting  are  utilized  for  new  purposes.  An  illus- 
tration will  make  the  method  clearer. 

It  was  the  season  for  pea-shooters  and  the  boys 
were  making  the  most  of  it.  No  one  was  safe 
when  passing  the  school.  The  boys  stood  in  a 
crowd  so  as  to  hide  the  marksmen  and  a  shout  of 
exultation,  followed  by  the  disappearance  of  the 
gang,  signalled  a  successful  shot  at  a  passer-by. 


270  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

The  principal  was  in  despair.  He  talked  to  the 
boys  individually  and  in  groups,  and  punished 
without  fear  or  favor  any  who  were  caught.  But 
he  made  no  headway.  Yet  he  was  not  unpopular. 
Indeed,  the  boys  pronounced  him  the  best  of  all 
their  teachers.  And  they  agreed  that  he  was 
strictly  fair.  But  the  pea-shooting  continued,  and 
the  residents  grew  more  angry. 

A  friend  was  visiting  the  principal.  His  intro- 
duction to  the  school  was  a  pea  in  the  corner  of 
his  eye.  It  was  not  a  large  pea,  but  it  was  aimed 
on  the  efficiency  plan  and  it  did  its  work.  The 
stranger  made  some  remarks  which  seemed  ap- 
propriate to  the  occasion  and  went  into  the  build- 
ing to  soothe  his  eye  and  his  feelings.  While  he 
was  bathing  the  former  an  idea  came  to  him. 
The  boys,  he  said  to  himself,  were  shooting  peas 
for  want  of  something  better  to  do.  And  they 
were  shooting  at  people  because  they  were  the 
most  available  and  interesting  targets.  There 
was  the  element  of  contest,  of  warfare,  in  it. 
Why  not  substitute  another  form  of  the  same 
racial  activity?  The  plan  was  sufficiently  harm- 
less to  be  unobjectionable  to  the  principal  even 
though  no  authority  could  be  found  for  it  in  the 
history  of  education. 

The  visitor  made  a  short  speech  to  the  pupils 
at  close  of  school.  No  reference  was  made  to  the 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  271 

annoying  pea-shooting.  He  merely  invited  the 
boys  to  meet  him  on  the  playground  the  next 
morning,  which  was  Saturday,  and  compete  in 
archery.  The  principal  stopped  one  of  the  boys 
as  he  was  passing  out  and  introduced  him  to  the 
stranger.  This  was  the  leader  of  the  rougher 
group  in  the  school.  Of  course  this  part  of  the 
programme  had  been  arranged  beforehand,  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  visitor,  because  the  principal 
did  not  believe  that  the  boys  would  accept  the 
invitation.  The  leader  was  asked  if  he  would 
help  make  a  target.  Naturally  he  was  pleased 
at  the  honor.  What  boy  would  not  be?  Putting 
up  the  target  did  not  take  long,  but  two  hours 
were  spent  in  finishing  a  bow  and  a  couple  of 
arrows.  Meanwhile  the  two  had  become  fast 
friends,  and  when  the  boy  was  asked  on  leaving 
whether  he  thought  the  others  would  come,  he 
replied:  "Leave  that  to  me." 

The  next  day  at  the  appointed  time  the  boys 
came  in  groups  as  though  for  mutual  support  in 
the  rather  novel  experience.  They  stood  around 
with  their  hands  in  their  pockets  in  much  the 
same  embarrassment  as  is  noticed  at  a  children's 
party.  But  their  leader  ordered  them  around 
like  galley  slaves,  and  so  they  soon  began  to  feel 
quite  natural.  At  the  close  of  the  morning's 
sport,  which  all  enjoyed  immensely,  some  one 


272  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

proposed  that  they  organize  a  bow  and  arrow 
club.  No  one  knew  just  where  the  idea  started. 
The  leader  made  the  suggestion  and,  with  the  obe- 
dience which  boys  always  show  on  the  playground, 
they  agreed  that  it  would  be  splendid. 

The  manual-training  department  was  kept  busy 
for  the  following  week  making  bows  and  arrows. 
The  children  went  at  it  very  differently  from  the 
way  in  which  they  had  worked  at  the  things  as- 
signed by  their  teachers  and  which  had  no  special 
meaning  for  them. 

What  happened  to  the  pea-shooters?  They 
were  given  to  the  small  boys.  But  these  little 
fellows,  again,  did  not  find  them  so  interesting 
as  before.  They  also  wanted  to  shoot  arrows  at 
targets. 

Judge  Lindsey  has  shown  how  the  actions  of 
boys  may  be  radically  altered  in  various  lines 
without  doing  violence  to  their  own  social  or 
gang  conceptions  of  duty. 

"In  a  certain  suburb  of  Denver,"  he  relates, 
"where  the  smelters  are  located  and  there  are  a 
great  many  cheap  saloons  selling  bad  liquor  and 
tobacco  to  children,  two  celebrated  gangs  brought 
to  the  juvenile  court  for  dangerous  forms  of  row- 
dyism and  lawlessness  not  only  completely  sup- 
pressed every  serious  objectionable  feature  among 
themselves,  but  also  went  after  the  men  who  were 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  273 

selling  liquor  and  tobacco  to  boys.  They  prose- 
cuted and  sent  several  to  jail,  and  did  more  to 
stop  the  use  of  tobacco  and  liquor  among  boys  in 
that  neighborhood  than  the  police  department  or 
civil  authorities  had  done  in  the  history  of  the 
town."  l  The  members  of  the  same  gangs  also 
prosecuted  men  for  selling  firearms  to  children, 
for  purchasing  stolen  property,  and  for  circulating 
obscene  literature.  Yet  these  were  the  lads  who 
had  been  making  the  trouble  in  that  neighbor- 
hood, who  had  been  stealing  the  property  which 
the  junk-dealers  bought,  and  who  were  among 
the  customers  for  the  firearms  and  immoral  litera- 
ture. 

If  a  gang  can  be  made  to  suppress  its  own 
lawlessness  and  become  the  protectors  of  j:hose 
upon  whom  it  has  been  preying,  what  limit  is 
there  to  the  utilization  of  its  enthusiasm  and  its 
spirit  ?  This  suppression  of  lawlessness,  however, 
was  not  accomplished  by  violating  the  ethics  of 
the  gang,  but  rather  by  giving  to  these  impulses 
a  more  universal  social  outlet.  And  this,  after 
all,  is  what  constitutes  moral  training.  The  gang 
is  a  close  social  corporation.  The  action  of  its 
members  toward  one  another  is  often  exemplary. 
Kindness,  truthfulness,  and  helpfulness  would 

1  "The  Problem  of  the  Children,"  "Report  of  the  Juvenile  Court 
of  Denver,  1904,"  pp.  107-108. 


274  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

leave  little  to  be  desired,  if  these  virtues  were  not 
so  narrowly  restricted  in  their  application.  But 
outsiders  are  not  included  among  the  beneficiaries. 
Now,  it  is  the  extension  of  the  point  of  view  of 
the  gang — the  enlargement  of  its  membership  to 
include  the  greater  social  group  which  has  been 
shut  out  and  classed  among  its  enemies — that  is 
the  first  task  of  those  engaged  in  training  boys. 
When  this  is  accomplished  a  large  proportion  of 
the  school  troubles  disappear  because  they  have 
originated  in  the  traditional  opposition  of  the 
school-master  to  the  impulses  which  have  all  the 
sanction  of  racial  passion. 

But  there  is  still  another  way  in  which  Judge 
Lindsey  has  socialized  the  wayward  lads  who 
have  come  before  his  court,  without  destroying 
the  ethical  concepts  of  childhood.  Tale-bearing 
we  have  found  to  be  abhorrent  to  boys.  To  ask 
those  who  are  caught  to  reveal  the  names  of  their 
associates  in  the  crimes  and  misdemeanors  would 
be  destructive  of  their  social  growth,  because  dip- 
lomatic relations  between  teachers  and  pupils 
would  at  once  be  broken  off.  But  "in  the  'snitch- 
ing bee'  conducted  in  my  chambers  around  my 
table,  after  the  boys  became  friendly,"  says  Judge 
Lindsey,  "they  did  not  tell  the  names  of  the  boys 
they  knew  to  be  doing  the  same  thing.  They 
went  back  to  the  school  and  within  the  next  day 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  275 

or  so  returned  to  my  chambers  with  sixteen  more. 
These  sixteen  boys,  from  a  very  respectable  school 
in  a  respectable  neighborhood,  brought  to  me  some 
twenty  or  thirty  dollars'  worth  of  stolen  trinkets, 
principally  agate  marbles,  leather  purses  and  bags, 
which  they  use  for  carrying  their  marbles.  They 
voluntarily  joined  the  delinquent  list  of  proba- 
tioners." 

"Another  most  interesting  case  of  this  char- 
acter was  one  in  which  the  party  caught  num- 
bered four,  and  these  four  rounded  up  forty-four 
others."  *  In  still  another  case  six  or  seven  were 
caught  and  these  brought  in  fifty-two  others.  "It 
has  been  about  two  years  since  these  happenings, 
and  in  none  of  the  cases  so  far  has  there  been 
either  a  complaint  against  any  of  the  boys  in- 
volved or  against  any  other  boys  in  the  same 
neighborhood  because  of  a  repetition  of  the  of- 
fence." 

All  of  this  means  the  enlargement  of  the  social 
self.  The  gang,  in  its  primitive  state,  is  a  re- 
stricted group.  Its  limited  membership  makes  it 
decidedly  individualistic  in  its  ethical  intent,  while 
the  opposition  which  its  members  feel  toward  other 
groups,  and  particularly  toward  society  in  the 
large,  gives  it  an  anti-social  trend.  The  school  is 
one  of  the  opposing,  if  not  hostile,  organizations. 

1  Judge  Lindsay,  op.  cit.,  pp.  118-119. 


276  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

The  purposes  of  the  school  are  therefore  not  its 
purposes,  and  whatever  can  be  done  to  defeat  the 
teacher  is  ethically  justifiable. 

We  have  shown  by  illustrations  how  this  atti- 
tude of  hostility  may  be  changed  to  one  of  friend- 
liness by  giving  a  new  turn  to  the  primitive  ideas 
and  ideals  of  the  children. 

With  this  change  in  attitude  toward  the  school 
organization  comes  an  alteration  in  the  attentive 
process.  The  things  to  which  the  teachers  ask 
attention  no  longer  represent  the  demands  of 
"the  opposition."  The  social  world  of  the  gang 
has  been  enlarged,  and  this  extension  of  its  world 
of  fellowship  calls  for  recognition  by  its  members 
of  the  claims  of  the  larger  group.  The  content  of 
the  minds  of  the  boys  has  been  changed,  but  not 
by  suppressing  their  native  impulses.  What  they 
have  believed  is  still  true,  but  it  has  received  a 
larger,  more  universal  meaning.  Their  racial  in- 
stincts are  still  allowed  to  run  their  course;  only 
the  channel  has  been  deepened  and  directed  with 
intelligence,  instead  of  shifting  aimlessly  with  the 
promptings  of  inherited  savage  impulses. 

Sometimes,  indeed,  these  inherited  instincts  are 
best  directed  by  first  giving  them  freedom  under 
limited  control.  In  this  way  the  boy  gradually 
becomes  accustomed  to  restraint  though  he  would 
break  the  rope  were  he  pulled  up  short.  This 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  277 

seems  to  have  been  the  case  with  an  habitual  run- 
away who  came  under  Judge  Lindsey  after  eighteen 
months  in  a  reform  school  had  failed  to  cure  him 
of  his  Wanderlust. 

"I  succeeded  in  getting  him  to  come  and  tell 
me  when  he  was  going  to  run  away,"  says  Judge 
Lindsey.1  "He  came  one  day  as  though  possessed 
with  a  fever  and  said  he  must  'take  a  ride.'  I 
deliberately  gave  him  permission  to  'bum  his  way' 
to  Colorado  Springs  on  condition  that  he  would 
go  no  farther  and  would  come  back  within  a  week. 
I  knew  that  he  was  fully  capable  of  going  to  Cal- 
ifornia or  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  whither  he  had 
often  'taken  a  ride.'  Of  course  I  took  chances, 
but  I  took  an  equally  desperate  chance  if  I  re- 
turned him  to  the  reform  school,  which  had  failed 
to  cure  the  malady.  The  boy  was  as  good  as  his 
word,  and  after  two  experiences  of  this  kind,  now 
two  years  ago,  he  has  ceased  to  be  a  'bum'  and  is 
in  every  way  promising." 

This  was  not  an  extreme  case.  Extreme  and 
radical  are  words  applied  to  actions  and  beliefs 
which  do  not  fit  into  our  system  of  ideas.  The 
boy  was  living  his  racial  life,  just  like  other  virile 
children.  But  with  him  the  primitive  centred  in 
the  desire  to  roam.  If  he  could  have  been  taken 
out  into  the  woods,  his  craving  to  wander  might 

1  Op.  cit.,  pp.  98-99. 


278  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

have  been  satisfied;  but  shutting  him  up  only  in- 
tensified the  longing.  Much  of  the  excitement  of 
escapades  comes  from  the  restraint  that  boys 
meet.  Resistance  always  generates  opposition. 
A  child's  wants  are  suggested  by  the  situation  in 
which  he  is  placed.  Let  him  feel  that  he  can  do 
as  he  wishes  and  he  is  very  likely  to  seek  what 
you  desire.  He  is,  at  least,  in  a  receptive,  adap- 
tive attitude.  But  under  close  restraint  he  is  res- 
tive and  seizes  every  chance  to  break  away. 

The  gang  offers  the  best  opportunity  to  con- 
trol boys  because  the  self  of  each  member  is 
merged  in  the  larger  self  of  the  group.  For  this 
reason  its  social  life  is  the  entrance  to  the  still 
larger,  more  universal  social  relationships  of  the 
work-a-day  world.  Besides,  action  is  unified  so 
that  it  is  not  necessary  to  convince  individuals 
and,  in  addition,  suggestions  are  contagious  in  a 
crowd. 

Like  adults,  boys  have  various  selves,  and  they 
always  use  the  one  that  fits  the  occasion.  Ex- 
perience has  made  them  skilful  in  feats  of  rapid 
mental  contortion.  The  same  boy  is  obstinate  in 
school,  a  bully  with  the  younger  set  and  meek 
among  the  members  of  his  gang.  He  selects  the 
actions  which  he  has  found  useful.  When  they 
fail  to  be  serviceable  he  is  quick  to  change. 

At   the   grammar  and   high   school  age,   boys 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  279 

are  individualistic  and  anarchistic  toward  their 
teachers,  but  socialistic  in  their  own  group.  This 
contradictory  personality  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
they  are  just  emerging  from  the  individualism  of 
early  childhood.  The  gang  is  a  stern  school  of 
altruism.  The  reason  for  this  is  the  diversity  of 
interests.  The  group  offers  a  variety  of  ideas,  and 
the  one  selected  is  less  individually  selfish  in  pro- 
portion as  it  partakes  of  the  spirit  of  the  group. 
Children  are  intolerant  of  personal  self-seekers, 
and  the  group  sentiment  dominates  partly  be- 
cause of  its  larger,  more  universal  worth.  It 
meets  the  needs  of  individuals  through  its  adap- 
tiveness  to  the  wants  of  the  entire  group.  What 
the  group  decides  is  for  its  good  the  individual 
accepts.  In  this  way  the  group  sentiment  directs 
and  rules  the  attention  of  those  who  contribute  to 
its  spirit.  The  members  must  work  together  and 
this  forces  concessions.  Individualism  crops  out 
at  times,  and  a  boy  may  break  away,  but  he  in- 
variably returns  and  begs  to  be  taken  back  at 
any  cost  to  his  independence.  Except  in  rare  in- 
stances, boys  cannot  endure  isolation. 

There  are  several  reasons  why  boys  are  most 
accessible  through  the  gang.  We  have  already 
indicated  that  the  members  are  swayed  at  the 
moment  by  a  single  impulse.  What  that  impulse 
shall  be  depends  upon  the  prevailing  suggestion. 


280  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

Gangs  possess  the  strength  and  weakness  of  a 
psychological  crowd.  They  are  more  likely  to  be 
destructive  on  account  of  inherited  savage  instincts 
and  because  reason  seldom  obtains  a  hearing. 
Besides,  acts  in  which  boys  dare  not  engage  alone 
they  will  do  en  masse.  The  gang  hides  individ- 
uals, and  courage  rises  in  proportion  to  the  chance 
of  concealment.  Gangs,  however,  may  be  con- 
structive. Here  is  where  the  leader  is  important. 
The  leader  of  the  gang  is  free  from  many  of  the 
limitations  of  his  followers.  They  have  their  rep- 
utations to  make.  He  has  made  his.  What  any 
set  expects  of  its  members  is  a  powerful  stimulus 
to  activity  in  that  direction.  But  the  leader  does 
not  need  to  fight,  because  it  was  by  proof  of  his 
superior  prowess  that  he  won  his  position.  Es- 
capades are  comparatively  unimportant  to  him, 
since  he  has  engaged  in  so  many  that  his  com- 
panions know  that  he  has  the  "nerve."  Of  course 
he  will  engage  in  them  if  nothing  better  comes  his 
way,  but  he  is  conscious  of  the  importance  of  his 
leadership  and  these  acts  are  a  little  plebeian  for 
a  ruler.  To  look  upon  them  with  indifference 
gives  him  a  feeling  of  superiority.  So  he  is  more 
inclined  to  play  the  part  of  judge  or  arbiter.  He 
likes  to  give  the  impression  of  having  outgrown 
the  puerile  thoughts  of  those  who  look  up  to  him 
for  guidance.  The  reason  why  he  acts  less  fre- 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  281 

quently  on  this  feeling  is  that  nothing  better  is 
suggested.  Teachers  do  not  treat  him  as  a  ruler. 
They  try  to  suppress  him,  and  that  is  mortifying. 
So  he  defends  his  authority  in  the  only  way  in 
which  he  has  had  any  experience. 

The  time  when  the  biggest  boy  in  the  school 
must  be  whipped  in  order  to  demonstrate  that 
the  teacher,  and  not  he,  is  in  control,  has  passed; 
but  he  is  still  subjected  to  all  sorts  of  humiliating 
penalties.  Naturally,  he  must  do  something  to 
maintain  his  prestige  among  his  followers,  and  the 
secret  revolts  which  he  instigates  are  the  weapons 
that  are  always  used  by  the  oppressed  when  they 
know  that  they  are  too  weak  for  open  resist- 
ance. 

We  have  said  that  the  gang  enlarges  the  self 
of  its  members.  Its  code  of  ethics  we  found  to 
be  an  expression  of  the  emerging  social  self.  But 
the  leader  displays  quite  a  different  sort  of  self 
from  that  of  his  followers.  They  may  aggress 
upon  one  another,  but  toward  him  they  are  obedi- 
ent. He,  on  the  contrary,  is  never  submissive. 
His  resistance  varies,  of  course,  with  the  situation 
in  which  he  finds  himself.  In  the  presence  of  his 
teachers  he  may  even  appear  subdued,  but  that 
is  only  the  diplomacy  of  one  who  is  playing  for 
time. 

The  leader,  however,  possesses  certain  qualities 


282  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

which,  joined  with  his  leadership,  make  him  pre- 
eminently the  point  of  social  growth  of  the  gang. 
The  very  fact  of  his  leadership  and  his  feeling  that 
he  is  the  protector  of  his  followers  gives  him  a 
social  self  which  is  in  advance  of  that  of  his  sub- 
ordinates. 

We  remarked  a  few  moments  ago  that  the  leader 
likes  to  appear  superior  to  his  associates,  and  that 
the  reason  for  his  engaging  in  the  acts  through 
which  he  gained  his  pre-eminence  is  his  incapacity 
for  social  inventions.  His  feeling  of  leadership 
makes  him  anxious  for  new  sources  of  glory,  but 
originality  is  always  limited  by  experience  and 
the  opportunities  of  boys  are  restricted.  This  is 
the  teacher's  chance. 

Boys  are  anxious  for  novel  experiences.  In- 
deed, they  devote  most  of  their  energy  to  finding 
them.  That  is  the  trouble.  If  they  were  satis- 
fied with  what  is  given,  they  could  be  easily  di- 
rected, but  with  all  their  restlessness  in  inaction 
they  are  excessively  particular  about  the  way  in 
which  the  experience  is  offered.  The  gang  has  its 
own  parliamentary  rules.  This  is  not  the  name 
which  the  members  give  to  their  usage,  but  that 
is  what  it  is.  The  business  must  be  introduced  in 
the  proper  way  and  this  is  where  most  teachers 
fail.  They  know  that  they  have  something  good, 
and  they  cannot  understand  why  the  children  do 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  283 

not  become  enthusiastic.  The  cause  of  the  in- 
difference is  seen  in  the  ease  with  which  an  occa- 
sional teacher  secures  attention  to  his  work  when 
others  fail.  For  example,  all  school-masters  will 
agree  that  theme-writing  is  one  of  the  bores  of 
the  trade.  But  the  writer  knows  one  school  in 
which  the  children  take  to  it  as  they  do  to  skat- 
ing, and  the  result  is  a  quality  of  work  rarely 
attained  in  any  school.  The  difference  is  that 
the  teacher  of  these  youngsters  plays  according 
to  the  rules  of  the  game.  He  recognizes  the  gang 
and  introduces  his  business  according  to  its  un- 
written law. 

It  is  obvious  that  boys  many  times  may  act  as 
a  gang  without  any  visible  organization.  Wher- 
ever there  is  a  leader  the  gang  spirit  prevails. 
And  they  usually  have  a  leader. 

The  leader  of  the  group  is  approachable.  The 
reason  has  already  been  given.  He  takes  his 
leadership  seriously.  His  self  is  as  variable  as 
that  of  his  subordinates,  but  it  is  made  of  differ- 
ent stuff.  The  very  fact  that  he  rules  the  entire 
band  gives  him  a  feeling  of  responsibility  toward 
each  member.  So  far  as  this  feeling  goes  it  is 
social.  Ordinarily  it  is  limited  to  managing  the 
tribal  activities,  to  demanding  fair  play,  and  to 
protecting  the  weak  from  the  aggressions  of  the 
strong.  It  is,  however,  capable  of  extension. 


284  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

The  fact  that  the  leader  is  managing  things  in  a 
small  field  makes  him  anxious  for  larger  exploits, 
and  the  seriousness  with  which  he  thinks  of  his 
authority  exposes  him  to  the  influence  of  sugges- 
tion. The  problem,  therefore,  is  to  enlarge  the 
activities  of  the  gang  so  that  they  may  include 
things  which  have  wider  social  import.  The 
leader  is  ready  for  this  change  because  he  is  sur- 
feited with  his  own  limited  inventions.  This  is 
what  has  been  done  through  the  Boy  Scouts,  the 
Knights  of  King  Arthur,  and  in  the  local  gangs, 
whose  transformation  into  social  forces  has  been 
described  in  this  and  other  chapters. 

Let  us  now  return  to  our  original  problem — 
the  use  of  these  racial  instincts  in  securing  the 
attention  for  things  and  actions  that  are  educa- 
tional. 

Our  earlier  illustrations  have  shown  that  chil- 
dren are  rarely  inattentive  to  work  which  they 
think  their  own.  But  the  group  sentiment  is 
always  active  in  determining  what  ideas  shall  oc- 
cupy the  focus  of  consciousness.  To  remain  mem- 
bers of  the  group,  however,  boys  must  attend  to 
the  business  which  it  assigns.  Making  children 
feel  that  the  work  is  theirs  and  not  the  teacher's 
means,  then,  securing  the  attention.  This  the 
schools  have  failed  to  do,  and  as  a  result  teachers 
are  continually  working  against  the  resistance  of 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  285 

the  group  consciousness.  The  school  is  composed 
of  two  opposing  forces:  the  one,  the  teacher,  try- 
ing to  win  attention  by  creating  factitious  inter- 
ests, and  the  other,  the  children,  momentarily 
attracted  by  these  devices  but  always  watchful 
of  a  chance  to  assert  their  social  selves. 

The  efficiency  of  the  energy  released  by  group 
sentiment  is  seen  in  the  results  accomplished  under 
the  name  of  play.  It  is  not  the  nature  of  the 
activity  that  distinguishes  work  from  play  so 
much  as  the  mental  attitude  assumed  toward  the 
occupation.  We  have  seen  that  the  same  sub- 
jects of  study  are  tedious  under  the  ordinary  class 
method  and  interesting  when  made  the  order  of 
business  in  a  club  of  the  members  of  the  class 
of  which  the  teacher  is  an  integral  but  inconspic- 
uous part.  The  club  idea  appeals  to  the  racial 
instincts  of  love  of  glory — showing  off — and  per- 
sonal competition,  both  of  which  are  elements  in 
the  group  sentiment.  There  is  no  lack  of  atten- 
tion here. 

The  utilization  of  the  racial  instincts  in  secur- 
ing attention  to  educative  ideas  has  been  resisted 
by  school  men  largely  because  of  the  educational 
dogma  of  the  value  of  effort.  Effort  has  been 
greatly  overworked  of  late.  Attention  does  its 
best  work  when  the  feeling  of  effort  is  wanting. 
Effort  indicates  resistance  or  strain,  and  accom- 


286  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

panics  inefficient  attention.  As  we  become  pro- 
ficient in  our  work,  it  decreases  and  finally  dis- 
appears entirely.  The  reverence  for  effort  has 
arisen  in  the  misapprehension  of  the  relation  of 
feelings  to  attention,  and  in  the  belief  that  strain 
has  some  occult  pedagogical  value.  It  is  inten- 
sity of  thought  which  counts  in  mental  develop- 
ment. The  feeling  of  effort  adds  no  value  to  the 
educative  process.  Consciousness  of  strain  indi- 
cates imperfect  attention  with  undue  prominence 
of  muscular  sensations  or  friction.  The  friction 
may  be  caused  by  the  novelty  of  the  ideas,  by 
bodily  discomfort,  as  in  the  strains  due  to  reflex 
neuroses,1  or  by  temporary  mental  incongruity, 
as  in  the  case  of  an  adult  who  has  heard  bad 
news.  With  children  the  same  effect  is  produced 
by  the  resistance  and  inhibitions  caused  by  racial 
impulses.  If  the  incongruity  is  permanent  be- 
cause of  inability  to  give  the  ideas  an  orderly 
arrangement  among  the  dominant  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  the  learner,  their  educational  value  is 
at  least  doubtful. 

Attention,  then,  is  determined  by  past  and  pres- 
ent states  of  consciousness.  In  childhood  the 
stuff  out  of  which  these  mental  states  are  made 
is  largely  racial  and  social,  as  typified  by  the 
spirit  of  the  gang,  and  continued  attention  can 

1  "Mind  in  the  Making,"  by  Edgar  James  Swift,  p.  116. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GANG  287 

be  secured  only  by  creating  educational  situations 
in  which  the  school  consciousness  loses  its  identity 
in  the  racial  and  social  consciousness  of  the  chil- 
dren. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES 

IN  an  earlier  chapter  we  have  seen  that  chil- 
dren respond  with  great  sensitiveness  to  their  sur- 
roundings, thus  revealing  a  characteristic  common 
to  all  living  organisms — that  of  adaptation  to  en- 
vironment. Let  us  carry  the  biological  analogy 
still  further  to  show  that  the  more  highly  devel- 
oped the  animal  the  greater  the  flexibility  of  re- 
sponse to  given  stimuli.  This  background  of  race 
history  should  clarify  much  that  has  been  said 
concerning  the  imperative  necessity  of  creating  an 
environment  for  the  child  which  shall  not  only 
keep  pace  with  his  racial  and  neural  growth,  but 
which  shall  be  freed  from  obstacles  to  growth. 

Since  the  time  of  Darwin,  it  has  been  a  matter 
of  common  scientific  knowledge  that  animals  and 
plants  may  undergo  such  great  changes  as  to  make 
it  often  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  trace  their 
origin.  The  significant  fact,  however,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  is  the  amazing  extent  to  which  this 
adaptation  may  be  directed  through  control  over 
the  environment.  Klebs,1  in  explaining  the  re- 

1  Jahrbiicher  fiir  wissenschaftliche  Botanik,  vol.  42,  p.  155. 
288 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      289 

markable  changes  which  have  been  produced  in 
plants  by  himself  and  others,  assumes  that  each 
plant  has  a  definite  structure  capable  of  variation 
within  certain  limits  which  are,  nevertheless,  wide 
enough  to  permit  striking  alterations  in  the  nature 
of  the  plant.  These  variations  are  the  result, 
Klebs  tells  us,  of  latent  potentialities  which  are 
actualized  by  suitable  stimuli.  "When  we  be- 
come sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  external  con- 
ditions appropriate  to  a  given  variation  and  can 
apply  them  practically,  the  variations,"  he  says, 
"must  necessarily  occur."  *  Now,  this  quality  of 
adaptation  is  much  more  characteristic  of  man 
than  of  plants  or  lower  animals.  Indeed,  the 
lower  we  go  in  the  scale  of  living  organisms  the 
more  reasonable  is  our  surprise  at  the  manifesta- 
tion of  extreme  degrees  of  adaptation,  for  the  life 
habits  of  plants  depend  primarily  upon  their  struct- 
ure, and  readaptation  of  structure  is  more  diffi- 
cult than  physiological  adaptation.  While  it  is 
doubtless  as  correct  to  speak  of  physiological 
states  in  plants  as  in  the  lower  animals,  the  nu- 
clei and  protoplasmic  threads  which  act  respec- 
tively as  nerve  cells  and  fibres  in  the  former  can 
hardly  serve  so  efficiently  as  even  the  most  ele- 
mentary nerve  cells  and  fibres  of  animals.  We 
should  therefore  expect  adaptation  to  be  more 

1  Op  cit.,  p.  303. 


290  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

limited  in  range  the  lower  the  animal,  and  in 
plants  we  should  look  for  still  more  restricted  pos- 
sibilities. This  seems  to  be  Jennings's  view  when 
he  says,  "in  the  higher  animals,  and  especially  in 
man,  the  essential  features  in  behavior  depend 
very  largely  on  the  life  history  of  the  individual; 
in  other  words,  upon  the  present  physiological 
condition  of  the  individual,  as  determined  by  the 
stimuli  it  has  received  and  the  reactions  it  has 
performed.  But  in  this  respect  the  higher  ani- 
mals do  not  differ  in  principle,  but  only  in  degree, 
from  the  lower  organisms.  .  .  ."  *  Francis  Dar- 
win evidently  holds  the  same  opinion  when  he 
says  concerning  Jennings's  statement:  "I  venture 
to  believe  that  this  is  true  of  plants  as  well  as  of 
animals,  and  that  it  is  further  broadly  true  not 
only  of  physiological  behavior  but  of  the  changes 
that  are  classed  as  morphological,"  2  i.  <?.,  struct- 
ural. But  the  story  does  not  end  here,  for  Jen- 
nings has  shown  that  even  among  the  lower 
organisms  "behavior  is  not,  as  a  rule,  on  the 
tropism  plan — a  set,  forced  method  of  reacting  to 
each  particular  agent — but  takes  place  in  a  much 
more  flexible,  less  directly  machine-like  way,  by 
the  method  of  trial  and  error."  3 

Observation  of  more  highly  organized  animals 

1  "  Contributions  to  the  Study  of  the  Behavior  of  Lower  Organ- 
isms," p.  124. 
3  Science,  vol.  28,  1908,  p.  359.  *  Op.  cit.,  p.  252. 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      291 

reveals  greater  flexibility  in  actions.  A  few  in- 
stances will  show  the  sort  of  change  which  takes 
place. 

English  sparrows  "are  able  to  modify  their 
habits  readily.  They  discriminate  small  differ- 
ences in  the  apparatus  (by  which  their  intelli- 
gence is  tested)  and  adjust  their  actions  accord- 
ingly." ' 

"The  cowbird  learns  to  distinguish  between  dif- 
ferent designs — the  three  horizontal  black  lines  on 
one  card  to  be  distinguished  from  a  blank  card, 
and  a  card  marked  with  a  black  diamond  from  a 
blank  card."  The  one  of  which  we  are  speaking 
"also  showed  that  she  was  learning  to  distinguish 
the  triangle."  2 

A  blind  rat  with  which  Willard  S.  Small  was 
experimenting  selected  a  new  and  shorter  path 
with  little  hesitation.  "After  the  second  trial  he 
rarely  went  astray.  .  .  .  The  old  habit  (of  follow- 
ing the  longer  route  with  which  he  had  been  fa- 
miliar for  weeks)  was  quickly  broken,  and  a  new, 
more  advantageous  one  established.  This  prefer- 
ence for  the  shorter  path  is  difficult  to  explain 
except  upon  the  supposition  that  the  path  is 
known  as  shorter.  .  .  .  Unless  the  advantage  of 
the  new  path  over  the  old  is  known  in  some  way, 

1  "A  Preliminary  Study  of  the  Psychology  of  the  English  Sparrow," 
by  James  P.  Porter,  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  vol.  15,  p.  346. 
3  Op,  cit.}  vol.  17,  pp.  269-270. 


292  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

the  old  habit  would  persist  simply  in  virtue  of  its 
own  inertia."  1 

Evidently  among  higher  species  the  machine 
element  in  the  response  of  animals  to  their  en- 
vironment becomes  less  noticeable.  The  ques- 
tions regarding  behavior  which  have  been  asked 
with  reference  to  the  lower  forms  were:  "Is  any 
other  factor  besides  the  mechanical  organization 
of  the  animal  operative  in  the  response?"  "Does 
their  behavior  differ  essentially  from  that  of  the 
plants  whose  roots  grow  down  into  the  earth  and 
whose  stem  seeks  the  light?"  The  question  is 
now  changed  to:  "How  much  intelligence  is  in- 
volved in  the  actions  of  these  animals?"  "Are 
they  able  to  imitate  in  the  sense  of  profiting  from 
the  experience  of  one  another?" 

Still  higher  in  the  animal  scale  the  problem 
again  changes.  "Do  animals  reason?"  is  the  way 
in  which  the  question  is  now  put.  It  is  not  the 
purpose  of  the  writer  to  discuss  this  perplexing 
problem.  The  correctness  of  one  view  or  the 
other  is  unessential  here.  The  important  fact  is 
that  the  actions  of  higher  animals  cause  the  ques- 
tion to  be  seriously  asked.  The  problem  of  intel- 
ligence evidently  changes  as  we  ascend  the  animal 
series.  A  few  instances  from  the  higher  animals 
may  be  cited  for  further  illustration. 

1 "  Experimental  Studies  of  the  Mental  Processes  of  the  Rat,"  by 
S.  Small,  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  vol.  12,  p.  238. 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      293 

"Roger  came  to  us  three  years  ago,  a  forlorn 
and  hopeless-looking  puppy,"  says  the  owner.1 
"He  was  a  full-blooded  mongrel  of  the  cocker- 
spaniel  persuasion.  His  thick  black  coat  was 
rough  and  dirty  and  his  tail  was  habitually  be- 
tween his  legs.  He  had  been  taken  into  two 
homes  only  to  be  turned  out  again  as  utterly 
'impossible.'"  After  kind  treatment  had  brought 
back  Roger's  self-respect  his  education  was  begun. 
He  received  about  ten  minutes'  training  each  day 
for  two  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  "he  could 
spell  anything  which  I  could  spell  without  being 
taught.  I  asked  for  Constantinople,  phthisic, 
pneumonia,  and  for  problems  like  2X3  +4  -5- 
2  —  1.  He  never  made  a  mistake.  Fractions 
presented  no  difficulties  to  him.  He  selected  colors 
correctly  the  first  time  he  saw  them  and  made 
change  as  quickly  as  any  cashier."  This  is  the 
statement  of  the  owner. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  Dr.  Yerkes's  account  of  the 
dog: 

"I  watched  intently  everything  that  dog  and 
trainer  did,  with  the  discouraging  result  that  I 
failed  to  discover  anything  which  could  account 
for  the  large  proportion  of  correct  answers  which 
were  given.  ...  I  am  free  to  say  that  at  the  end 
of  this  first  performance  I  was  deeply  interested 

1  Century  Magazine,  vol.  53,  p.  598. 


294  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

in  what  I  had  seen,  and  not  a  little  puzzled  by 
it.  The  dog  had  answered  questions  remarkably 
well.  He  had  added,  subtracted,  spelled,  and 
done  a  number  of  his  pretty  little  tricks  with  a 
degree  of  accuracy  which  compelled  admiration."  l 
The  result  of  later  investigation  convinced  Dr. 
Yerkes  that  Roger's  "answers  are  dictated  by  slight 
voluntary  and  involunatry  movements  of  his 
trainer,  and  not  by  recognition  of  the  letters  and 
numbers  and  intelligent  use  of  them  to  answer 
questions.  ...  I  must  add,  however,  that  these 
movements  are  not  readily  seen  by  the  observer 
when  Roger  is  in  practice  and  does  his  best.  It 
is  highly  probable  that  the  dog's  visual  sensitive- 
ness to  movement  is  greater  than  ours." 

Yerkes's  conclusions  agree  with  those  reached  in 
the  investigation  of  "Der  kluge  Hans,"  the  Ger- 
man horse  whose  wonderful  feats  in  reading,  spell- 
ing, giving  the  names  of  those  to  whom  he  had 
been  introduced,  and  solving  complex  arithmetical 
problems  involving  fractions  were  heralded  round 
the  world  a  few  years  ago.  Pfungst 2  discovered 
that  clever  Hans  could  not  reply  correctly  to 
questions  when  the  answers  were  unknown  to 
the  questioner.  Fraud  was  eliminated  by  the 
fact  that  the  horse  answered  correctly  questions 

1  "The  Behavior  of  Roger,"  by  Robert  M.  Yerkes,  Century  Maga- 
zine, vol.  53,  p.  602. 
J  "Da?  Pferd  des  Herrn  v.  Osten,"  by  Oscar  Pfungst. 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      295 

put  by  the  investigator  and  by  others  who  were 
only  interested  in  the  psychological  aspects  of  the 
performance.  The  success  of  the  investigator  in 
obtaining  correct  answers  also  proved  that  the 
movements  which  served  Hans  as  a  cue  were  in- 
voluntary movements  of  the  head,  body,  and  limbs, 
accompanying  intense  attention.  These  move- 
ments, which  the  spectators  did  not  detect,  were 
observed  by  the  horse  and  translated  into  appro- 
priate actions.  So  he  could  spell  any  word  which 
the  questioner  could  spell,  or  give  the  answer  of 
difficult  problems  in  arithmetic  by  pawing  with 
his  hoof  according  to  the  language  code  which  he 
had  been  taught.  But  let  us  now  turn  to  an  even 
more  remarkable  exhibition  of  mental  flexibility, 
this  time  in  the  animal  closest  to  man. 

"Peter"  is  a  chimpanzee  whose  intelligence  was 
recently  tested  in  the  psychological  laboratory  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  had  been 
under  training  for  show  purposes  during  two  and 
a  half  years.  It  will  be  sufficient  for  our  present 
purpose  to  cite  a  few  of  his  actions  under  condi- 
tions requiring  considerable  selective  attention 
and  discrimination. 

Peter  had  been  accustomed  to  lock  and  unlock 
an  old-fashioned  padlock  with  a  large  key.  Dr. 
Witmer  gave  him  a  smaller  one  with  a  thin  bar 
bent  like  a  staple  which  must  be  inserted  at  the 


296  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

end  of  the  padlock  and  pushed  home  when  the 
lock  was  to  be  closed.  The  keyhole  was  at  the 
end  opposite  the  staple-like  bar.  "The  key  was 
a  small  one,"  says  Dr.  Witmer,1  "difficult  to  in- 
sert and  difficult  to  turn  after  it  had  been  in- 
serted. As  soon  as  Peter  saw  this  lock,  it  ab- 
sorbed his  entire  attention.  ...  I  unlocked  it  for 
him  and  took  out  the  staple  attachment.  I  put 
the  staple  back  and  locked  it,  withdrawing  the 
key.  I  was  about  to  reinsert  the  key,  thinking  it 
too  difficult  a  test  to  start  him  with,  when  he 
reached  for  the  key,  and  turning  the  lock  into 
the  correct  position,  promptly  inserted  it  and  un- 
locked it  more  rapidly  than  I  had  done  a  moment 
before.  He  then  pulled  out  the  staple  with  a  look 
I  cannot  but  term  triumphant,  expressing,  'There! 
you  see  I  have  done  it.'  I  then  told  him  to  put 
the  staple  back  and  lock  it.  He  inserted  one 
prong  of  the  staple,  but  unfortunately  had  not 
solved  the  problem  of  putting  the  two  prongs  in 
at  once.  He  kept  turning  the  staple  around,  but 
it  would  not  go  into  place.  ...  I  then  employed 
a  test  which  demonstrated  his  intelligence  most 
clearly.  Holding  the  lock  before  him,  I  pulled 
the  staple  slowly  out,  moved  it  several  inches 
away,  and  reinserted  it.  I  repeated  this  perform- 

1  "A  Monkey  with  a  Mind,"  by  Lightner  Witmer,  Psychological 
Clinic,  vol.  3,  p.  1 88. 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      297 

ance  two  or  three  times  and  then  passed  the 
lock  to  Peter.  He  seized  it  eagerly,  slowly  and 
carefully  pulled  out  the  staple  until  it  was  not 
more  than  a  quarter  of  an  inch  beyond  the  lock, 
and  then  carefully  reinserted  it  in  place,  shoving 
it  home  with  a  smack  of  his  hand.  There  could 
be  no  doubt  that  he  appreciated  the  danger  of  los- 
ing the  combination  and  was  taking  no  chances 
on  getting  the  staple  too  far  away  from  the  body 
of  the  lock.  He  then  turned  the  key  in  the  lock 
and  at  my  verbal  request  handed  the  lock  back 
to  me.'* 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  of  Peter's  skilful 
acts  was  the  discernment  which  he  displayed  in 
the  use  of  the  hammer  and  screw-driver.  "A 
hammer  and  a  piece  of  board  on  which  were  some 
nails  and  screws  were  given  him.  The  hammer 
had  a  reversible  head,  a  round  one  for  buffing 
and  a  flat  one  for  driving  nails.  It  differed  from 
the  hammer  which  I  saw  him  use  at  a  private 
interview  in  the  theatre,  and  probably  was  un- 
like any  that  he  had  ever  seen.  I  gave  him  the 
hammer  in  such  a  way  that  when  he  grasped  it 
in  his  hand  he  held  it  in  position  for  striking  with 
the  round  head.  Hesitating  a  moment,  he  brought 
the  round  head  to  his  mouth,  felt  it  with  his  lips, 
turned  the  head  about,  felt  the  flat  end,  and  in- 
stantly proceeded  to  drive  several  nails  into  the 


298  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

board  with  the  proper  head.  He  never  mistook 
a  screw  for  a  nail."  He  was  then  handed  a  screw 
instead  of  a  nail.  "He  stuck  the  screw  into  a 
small  hole  in  the  board  and  at  once  selected  a 
screw-driver,  paying  no  attention  whatever  to  the 
hammer  lying  on  the  table.  .  .  .  There  were  three 
screw-drivers  on  the  table,  and  he  first  picked  out 
a  medium-sized  one,  which  was  a  little  too  large 
for  the  purpose.  He  next  tried  the  smallest  one 
and  made  several  turns  of  the  screw,  always  turn- 
ing the  screw-driver  in  the  right  direction.  He 
did  this  as  a  child  might  do  it,  or  an  adult  not 
expert  in  handling  tools." 

Finally,  Dr.  Witmer  tested  Peter's  ability  to 
imitate  simple  writing.  "I  drew  forward  a  black- 
board the  writing  surface  of  which  he  could  eas- 
ily reach  when  standing  upon  the  table.  He  took 
a  piece  of  chalk  eagerly  and  before  I  had  made 
any  mark  upon  the  board,  began  to  scrawl  in  a 
corner  of  it.  I  took  the  chalk  from  him  and  said, 
'Peter,  I  want  you  to  do  this,'  and  rapidly  made 
the  letter  W  in  four  strokes.  Peter's  attention 
had  not  been  fully  given  while  I  made  the  letter. 
He  took  the  chalk  and  scrawled  beneath  in  much 
the  same  manner  as  he  had  done  before.  I  picked 
up  another  piece  of  chalk  and  said,  'Now  look, 
this  is  what  I  want  you  to  do,'  and  traced  an- 
other W  over  the  one  which  I  had  just  drawn. 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      299 

Peter  watched  the  operation  intently,  then  with 
the  chalk  in  his  hand  he  quickly  made  four  move- 
ments and  drew  a  fairly  perfect  letter  W  be- 
neath the  W  which  I  had  traced.  ...  I  asked 
him  to  try  again,  and  he  made  at  some  distance 
from  the  first  letter  another  W,  somewhat  less 
perfectly  formed." 

As  has  already  been  said,  it  is  unessential  for 
our  present  purposes  whether  Roger  and  Peter 
"reasoned"  or  not.  The  important  fact  is  their 
ability  to  construct  new  experiences — to  adapt 
themselves  to  situations  belonging  to  a  higher 
level  of  life.  Amoebae  and  Paramecia,  according 
to  Jennings,  use  the  "trial-and-error"  method. 
Previously  acquired  experience  counts  with  them 
for  nothing.  The  rats  tested  by  Small  followed 
the  same  method,  but  having  hit  upon  a  success- 
ful way  they  retain  it.  They  do  not  always  re- 
trace the  old,  useless  reactions,  as  do  the  Amoebae 
and  Paramecia,  until  they  again  happen  by  chance 
upon  the  successful  response.  But  Small  found 
no  evidence  that  his  rats  "learned  to  do  anything 
by  seeing  another  do  it — the  purposive  associa- 
tion of  another's  action  with  a  desired  end."  In 
the  case  of  Roger  and  Peter,  however,  purposive 
imitation  is  evident.  Indeed,  Roger,  like  "Der 
kluge  Hans,"  not  only  imitated,  but  in  addition 
quite  clearly  made  inferences  from  involuntary 


300  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

movements  of  his  teachers,  while  Peter  imitated 
writing  and  exercised  discriminative  judgment  in 
his  selection  of  tools. 

When  one  studies  the  nervous  system  of  the 
animals  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  it  is 
found  that  the  change  of  questions  regarding  their 
mentality  comes  with  improvement  in  nervous 
structure.  Some  of  the  organisms  which  Jen- 
nings investigated  have  no  nervous  system.  The 
others  possess  only  the  most  rudimentary  sort. 
As  differentiation  in  internal  organization  pro- 
ceeds, the  problem  of  intelligence  arises  and  it 
becomes  increasingly  prominent  as  the  nervous 
mechanism  grows  more  complex. 

Evidently,  then,  flexibility  in  response  to  stim- 
uli increases  with  the  degree  of  development  of 
the  animal,  and  in  man  we  find  the  greatest  vari- 
ety of  possible  adaptations.  Further,  as  has  been 
shown  by  Herder  and,  again,  by  John  Fisk,  the 
lengthened  period  of  infancy  in  man  was  impera- 
tive that  he  might  meet  the  increasing  and  vary- 
ing demands  of  his  environment  for  new  adapta- 
tions. 

The  flexibility  of  this  period  is  what  gives 
teachers  their  chance.  The  "period  of  infancy" 
is  only  another  term  for  the  formative  period 
which  extends  through  childhood,  and  the  school 
task,  as  we  have  seen,  is  not  merely  to  teach, 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      301 

but  to  furnish  situations  which  shall  stimulate 
reactions  leading  to  mental  and  moral  growth. 
The  problem  is  therefore  a  constructive  one  in  the 
calculation  of  which  all  the  racial  and  individual 
characteristics  of  the  children  must  be  reckoned 
with. 

Our  brief  survey  of  some  of  the  changes  which 
occur  in  the  evolution  of  animals  shows  that  train- 
ing and  education  should  be  consistent  with  the 
stage  of  growth  which  the  nervous  system  has 
attained,  and  that  they  should  change  with  the 
progress  of  internal  organization.  In  the  case  of 
infants  this  is  done,  though  apparently  less  from 
intelligence  than  because  nothing  else  is  possible. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  school  age,  again,  some 
progress  has  been  made  in  the  method  employed. 
A  few  of  the  contributions  to  child  psychology 
have  been  incorporated  in  school  practice.  But 
here  our  appreciation  must  end.  Throughout  the 
remainder  of  the  school  course,  the  methods  fol- 
lowed are  as  though  the  nervous  system,  and  with 
it  the  mind,  made  no  further  progress.  On  the 
intellectual  side,  memory  and  imitation  absorb 
the  attention  of  teachers,  and  in  conduct  the  ap- 
peal continues  to  be  made  to  motives  of  earlier 
childhood.  For  the  schools,  the  boy  never  be- 
comes a  reasoning  creature.  Rules  and  facts  make 
up  the  content  of  every  subject.  Even  laboratory 


302  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

work  is  so  arranged  that  the  best  marks  may  be 
secured  through  memory  and  imitation.  When 
the  teacher  does  not  perform  the  experiments  for 
the  class,  he  prepares  such  explicit  directions  that 
the  pupils  are  relieved  of  the  labor  of  thinking. 
This  is  first-class  chimpanzee  education,  and  the 
only  qualification  which  Peter  lacks  to  complete 
his  studies  for  graduation  is  the  ability  to  read 
and  to  understand  spoken  language.  So  far  as 
imitation  is  concerned,  he  can  meet  the  require- 
ments. Naturally  boys  feel  much  the  same  sort 
of  organic  resistance  to  perpetuating  these  child- 
hood methods  that  they  show  toward  continuing 
to  wear  short  trousers.  They  do  not  fit  their 
age.  So  incorrigibility  and  truancy,  with  the  ac- 
companying retardation,  follow. 

Our  problem  of  breaking  down  the  mental  resist- 
ance of  children  to  work  and  of  releasing  their 
mental  forces  has  been  simplified  by  investiga- 
tions in  the  changes  which  boys  undergo  during 
the  school  period.  Those  who  have  had  much  to 
do  with  boys  from  twelve  to  sixteen  years  of  age 
have  found  the  social,  co-operative  factor  about 
the  strongest  element  in  their  lives.  They  may 
be  thoroughly  obtuse  to  motives  which  appeal  to 
adults,  but,  as  has  been  shown  in  earlier  chapters, 
they  are  never  oblivious  of  the  demands  of  their 
own  group.  They  work  with  untiring  vigor  to 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      303 

accomplish  what  their  gang  has  put  upon  them. 
Here,  then,  we  seem  to  have  the  key  to  the  situa- 
tion— to  appropriate  some  of  the  group  enthusi- 
asm for  the  advancement  of  learning  among  boys. 
After  all,  the  irresistible  longing  to  grapple  with 
situations  and  to  win,  is  the  central  purpose  of 
school  training.  Under  these  circumstances  knowl- 
edge comes  incidentally  and  in  abundance,  because 
it  is  essential  to  what  the  children  are  doing. 

Fortunately,  the  conditions  which  develop  these 
habits  of  action  are  identical  with  those  to  which 
children  respond  with  the  greatest  zest.  They 
revel  in  problems  to  work  out,  singly  or  in  groups, 
by  investigation  or  conference,  when  once  the 
group  spirit  has  been  aroused.  If  the  entire 
responsibility  for  success  or  failure  rests  with 
leaders  whom  the  children  have  selected,  so  much 
the  better,  since  leaders  from  among  themselves 
are  relentless  in  their  demands.  This  sort  of 
work  furnishes  a  range  of  adaptation,  so  far  as 
studies  are  concerned,  sufficiently  wide  and  flexi- 
ble to  meet  the  requirements  of  each  child.  The 
appeal  to  the  instincts  of  children  to  organize 
and  direct  the  things  that  concern  themselves 
(the  group-activity  impulses),  to  investigate  (curi- 
osity), supplies  a  powerful  incentive  to  work. 
Knowledge  and  morality  take  care  of  themselves. 
The  former  is  acquired  by  each  one  doing  his 


304  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

share  of  the  common  labor,  and  moral  action  is 
demanded  by  the  ethics  of  fair  play  and  by  the 
intolerance  of  children  for  shirking  and  cheating. 
Demolins  has  shown  how  powerful  these  incen- 
tives to  morality  are  in  1'Ecole  des  Roches.  "The 
school,"  he  says,  "is  entrusted  to  the  children. 
It  is  their  affair;  they  have  the  responsibility  for 
order  and  behavior.  The  confidence  which  we 
feel  in  them  and  the  respect  which  we  show  de- 
velop in  turn  self-reliance  and  respect  for  them- 
selves." l 

At  Abbotsholme,  in  England,  the  model  for 
PEcole  des  Roches,  the  native  impulse  of  children 
to  participate  in  the  management  of  what  they 
do,  is,  again,  the  moving  force  in  the  acquisition 
of  knowledge  as  well  as  of  habits  of  self-control. 
Here  teachers  and  pupils  work  together,  study 
together,  and  participate  equally  in  the  discus- 
sion of  the  ways  and  means  of  accomplishing 
what  they  set  before  themselves.  The  difference 
between  work  and  play  does  not  arise,  because  no 
distinction  is  made.  Each  appeals  to  the  same 
racial  impulse  to  group  action  in  which  all  have 
equal  share  and  interest.  The  head-master  of 
Abbotsholme,  Mr.  Cecil  Reddie,  speaking  of  him- 
self and  his  associates  at  the  beginning  of  their 
career  as  teachers,  when  they  were  following  the 

1  "L'Education  nouvelle,"  par  Edmond  Demolins. 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      30$ 

traditional  methods  of  the  school,  says:  "On  be- 
coming a  school-master,  the  first  thing  we  found 
was  that  the  mere  fact  of  being  a  teacher  by  pro- 
fession raised  an  immense  wall,  unknown  before, 
between  us  and  our  pupils."  l  Now,  however, 
"the  antagonism  which  usually  exists  in  a  school 
between  boys  and  masters  has  been  avoided  by 
.  .  .  co-operation  and  participation.  Masters  and 
pupils  co-operate  together  and  share  in  the  re- 
sult— an  expanded  life  for  all.  'My  learning  is 
playing  and  my  playing  is  learning,'  as  the  old 
Dutch  song  says,  finds  here  its  practical  realiza- 
tion, for  in  this  school  even  the  recreation  has  to 
some  extent  a  utilitarian  aspect."  2 

I  am  aware  that  all  teachers  will  maintain  that 
they  co-operate  with  the  children  in  their  school. 
This  claim  is  a  part  of  the  pedagogical  cant.  But 
when  a  pedantic  teacher  joins  his  pupils  in  their 
activities  his  feeling  of  superiority  and  his  con- 
descension are  so  evident  that  the  children  would 
gladly  be  rid  of  him.  At  Abbotsholme,  on  the 
contrary,  work  and  play  are  so  intermingled  that 
it  is  difficult  to  tell  where  one  begins  and  the  other 
ends.  In  the  control  and  direction  of  the  work, 
again,  one  could  not  easily  distinguish  master 
from  pupil.  Professional  dignity,  the  pest  of  edu- 

1  "Abbotsholme,"  by  Cecil  Reddie,  p.  15. 

2  Letter  from  J.  C.  Van  Eyk,  in  "Abbotsholme,"  by  Cecil  Reddie, 
p.  102. 


306  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

cation,  has  been  thrown  aside.  And  through  it 
all  recognition  of  racial  instincts  is  fundamental. 

The  difference  in  efficiency  produced  by  the 
school  consciousness  and  the  social  consciousness 
is  seen  in  an  experiment  which  has  been  tried  for 
several  years  in  the  McKinley  High  School  at 
Saint  Louis.  The  senior  Latin  class  organized 
into  a  club  for  debates  in  Latin.  Everything  that 
is  said  in  their  meetings  is  spoken  in  Latin. 
Among  the  subjects  which  have  been  discussed 
are:  "Constitutum  sit:  oratorem  plus  quam  po- 
etam  valere";  "Constitutum  sit:  apud  recenti- 
ores  Romanos  plus  quam  Graecos  valuisse";  and 
"Constitutum  sit:  feminis  dandum  esse  suffra- 
gium."  The  first  speeches  of  each  debate  are 
carefully  written  out  beforehand,  but  the  closing 
reply  of  the  leader  of  the  affirmative  is  always 
written  during  the  progress  of  the  debate.  The 
keenest  interest  is  shown  in  these  discussions,  and 
the  attitude  of  the  entire  class  has  changed.  Sup- 
pose the  task  of  writing  an  essay  of  half  a  dozen 
or  more  pages  of  Latin  had  been  assigned.  Any 
teacher  knows  the  resistance  which  it  would  have 
aroused.  Yet  these  boys  and  girls  are  eager  to 
undertake  the  work  because  they  are  managing 
it  and  because  the  spirit  of  group  emulation  has 
been  awakened. 

The   developmental   value   of  stimuli   depends 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      307 

upon  their  relation  to  the  needs  of  the  individual. 
Among  the  lower  animals  the  requirements  of 
members  of  a  species  are  the  same.  The  individ- 
ual has  no  consideration  beyond  that  which  profits 
his  kind.  It  is  only  when  we  come  to  man  that 
personal  characteristics  claim  attention.  The 
problem  then  changes.  It  is  no  longer  forced 
adaptation  to  a  given  set  of  chance  conditions 
wherever  they  may  lead,  but  rather  the  devel- 
opment of  the  species  through  improving  the  per- 
sons who  compose  it. 

The  moment  that  individuals  enter  into  our  cal- 
culations, we  must  take  account  of  the  conditions 
which  make  for  personal  growth.  Development 
is,  of  course,  an  exceedingly  complex  process. 
Many  things  which  enter  into  it  are  beyond  the 
control  of  teachers.  Two  contributing  factors, 
however,  are  decidedly  school  matters.  One  of 
these  is  the  content  of  the  subjects  of  study,  and 
the  other  the  attitude  of  the  pupils  toward  their 
work.  Since  the  subject-matter  of  the  curriculum, 
however  significant  it  may  be,  has  little  develop- 
mental value  without  preliminary  work  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  recitation,  the  fundamental  problem 
is  to  create  in  the  pupils  an  attitude  of  mind 
similar  to  that  which  they  have  toward  their  own 
activities.  It  is  folly  to  talk  to  them  about  the 
advantages  of  education,  because  they  will  not 


308  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

believe  you.  They  have  not  had  the  experience 
which  is  needed  to  appreciate  knowledge.  The 
school  method  is  to  force  the  pupils  to  study 
through  fear  of  penalties  or  to  coax  them  by  re- 
wards. Both  of  these  plans  have  ignominiously 
failed.  The  first  fosters  deception  and  produces 
cowards.  As  regards  the  work  accomplished  under 
this  incentive,  at  best  only  so  much  is  done  as 
self-protection  prompts.  The  second  incentive 
arouses  merely  an  artificial  interest.  It  makes 
little  difference  whether  the  rewards  are  of  the 
ginger-bread  variety  or  high  marks.  The  desire 
to  make  a  good  appearance  in  recitations  and  ex- 
aminations is  the  propelling  force,  and  this  leads 
to  the  sort  of  study  that  makes  a  brilliant  show- 
ing for  the  moment,  rather  than  to  the  spirit  of 
inquiry  and  investigation  which  underlies  real 
scholarship.  Even  if  the  reward  is  educative  it 
fails  to  accomplish  the  desired  purpose.  Children 
of  stamina  revolt  against  the  principle.  In  a 
school  familiar  to  the  writer  the  privilege  of  read- 
ing the  books  of  the  school  library  is  reserved  for 
those  who  study  and  are  "good."  The  result  is 
that  few  read.  Those  who  do,  try  not  to  be  caught 
in  the  act.  One  boy  who  had  been  the  most  troub- 
lesome and  the  least  responsive  was  punished  by 
being  sent  from  the  room,  in  accordance  with  the 
custom  of  the  school.  Happening  into  the  library, 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      309 

his  teacher  found  him  absorbed  in  a  book.  Con- 
versation disclosed  the  fact  that  the  boy  wanted 
to  read,  but  would  not  purchase  the  pleasure  at 
the  price  of  receiving  favors  for  good  conduct. 
So  he  purposely  created  disturbance  that  he  might 
be  sent  from  the  room.  He  could  then  revel  in 
reading. 

If  fear  of  punishment,  hope  of  reward,  and  so- 
cial obligations  fail,  the  problem  of  producing  a 
responsive  attitude  in  the  pupils  seems  to  reduce 
itself  to  making  situations  which  shall  fit  into  the 
undeveloped  thoughts  and  acts  of  children  in  such 
a  way  that  study  shall  constitute  an  essential  part 
of  their  activities.  I  am  aware  that  this  sounds 
vague  when  stated  abstractly,  but  concrete  illus- 
trations have  been  given  in  earlier  chapters.  In 
pupil-governed  schools,  for  example,  the  attitude 
of  children  toward  their  work  is  wholly  altered. 
Study  becomes  a  part  of  their  organized  self-con- 
trol. Their  lessons  are  no  longer  put  upon  them 
by  the  authority  of  their  teacher,  but  instead  are 
the  work  which  they  have  tacitly  agreed  among 
themselves  to  do. 

Pupil-government,  however,  is  not  the  only 
method  by  which  the  educative  attitude  may  be 
produced.  Mr.  Arthur  Holmes  has  made  an  im- 
portant contribution1  to  the  possibilities  of  troub- 

1  "An  Educational  Experiment,"  Psychological  Clinic,  vol.  4,  p.  155. 


310  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

lesome,  adolescent  boys.  The  ages  of  his  thir- 
teen lads  ranged  from  eleven  to  fifteen  years,  and 
among  them  all  there  was  a  choice  variety  of  the 
wayward  characteristics  of  spoiled,  sullen,  and 
lazy  boys.  "Six  were  moral  delinquents,  having 
stolen  from  their  homes  or  other  places."  One 
other  had  been  arrested,  two  were  in  charge  of 
probation  officers  of  the  juvenile  court,  two  others 
were  backward  and  morally  delinquent,  and  four 
were  merely  backward  in  their  school-work.  "In 
every  case  there  was  some  reason  which  made  the 
parents  anxious  to  have  their  boys  put  under 
special  training,  the  only  exception  being  one  nor- 
mal boy,  who  accompanied  his  brother  for  the 
sake  of  companionship.  .  .  .  Taken  as  a  whole  a 
more  difficult  group  of  boys  could  scarcely  be 
found,  whether  it  was  a  question  of  pursuing  the 
ordinary  methods  used  in  the  public  schools  or 
any  form  of  group  or  class  work. 

"The  physical,  intellectual,  and  temperamental 
disposition  of  each  boy  was  taken  into  considera- 
tion and  every  effort  made  to  correct  any  abnor- 
malities, to  take  cognizance  of  any  peculiarities, 
and  to  make  adjustments  of  conditions  to  these 
where  necessary.  .  .  .  The  boys  were  to  be  held 
in  the  class,  not  by  physical  force,  but  by  making 
an  appeal  to  the  adolescent  interests  which  were 
assumed  to  be  rich  and  varied  enough  to  hold 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      311 

them  during  the  period  of  mstruction  and  to  serve 
as  a  basis  for  the  control  of  conduct  during  their 
later  lives.  This  was  done  by  providing  intellec- 
tual, physical,  manual,  and  recreative  studies  and 
exercises  under  the  leadership  of  persons  experi- 
enced in  dealing  with  boys.  .  .  .  The  regular 
school  books  of  the  public  schools  of  Philadelphia 
were  used  for  the  various  studies  in  the  class." 

In  manual  training,  "instead  of  beginning  in 
the  prescribed  way  with  the  fundamentals  of  tool 
handling  and  sloyd,  each  boy  was  presented  with 
sufficient  material  to  manufacture  one  object.  He 
was  given  a  concrete  piece  of  work  to  do.  His 
first  attempt  was  the  manufacture  of  a  small 
windmill.  .  .  .  Furthermore,  each  boy  was  per- 
mitted to  work  as  rapidly  as  he  chose.  Some  of 
the  boys  finished  their  windmills  long  before  the 
others,  and  these  completed  specimens  became 
objects  of  emulation.  .  .  .  Though  the  work  was 
primarily  individual,  it  was  at  the  same  time  so- 
cial. All  the  boys  were  working  upon  the  same 
thing.  The  constant  interest  in  one  another's 
progress,  their  interchange  of  questions,  sugges- 
tions, tools  and  material  emphasized  the  social 
factor  and  did  as  much  as  almost  anything  else 
to  amalgamate  the  varied  elements  into  a  well- 
working  whole. 

"In  addition  to  the  handwork  of  manual  train- 


312  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

ing,  there  were  daily  physical  exercises.  The 
physical  instruction  consisted  of  swimming  and 
regular  gymnastic  exercises  in  the  university  gym- 
nasium, as  well  as  games  conducted  both  indoors 
and  out. 

"At  first  it  was  utterly  impossible  to  secure 
anything  like  regularity  in  physical  movements. 
There  was  no  order,  rhythm,  or  co-ordination 
among  the  different  individuals.  Each  boy  kept 
his  own  time  and  tried  to  follow  the  leader  as  best 
he  could.  .  .  .  Squeers'  famous  class,  as  described 
by  Dickens,  hardly  surpassed  them  for  idiosyn- 
crasies. .  .  .  Gradually  co-ordination  began  to 
develop  in  the  class  as  a  whole.  They  followed 
their  leader  more  closely.  .  .  .  The  conduct  of  the 
class  as  a  whole  became  better;  more  attention 
was  given  to  the  instructor's  orders,  exercises  were 
begun  promptly  and  continued  the  required  time. 
The  boys  improved  in  their  treatment  of  each 
other.  Slowly  an  esprit  de  corps  crept  in  and  be- 
fore the  six  weeks  were  up  a  fairly  well-organized 
gymnastic  class  had  emerged  from  the  first  day's 
crowd  of  unmanageable  fellows." 

In  baseball,  "fair  play  was  at  a  premium,  and 
any  trickery,  dishonesty,  or  foul  play  met  with 
immediate  condemnation  from  the  boys  them- 
selves." 

As  a  result  of  the  six  weeks'  experiment  Holmes 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      313 

proved  that  "boys,  no  matter  how  unmanageable 
by  agencies  already  existing,  can  be  interested 
and  held  to  right  activities.  Not  one  boy  was 
expelled  from  the  class  or  sent  home  even  for  a 
time.  Not  one  became  a  permanent  truant  or 
was  compelled  to  return  to  school  except  by  his 
own  free  will."  And  these  "right  activities"  in- 
cluded "regular  daily  tasks  difficult  to  accomplish 
and  good  in  their  results.  .  .  .  Confirmed  truants 
will  go  to  the  right  school,  constant  pilferers  will 
restrain  their  thievishness,  idlers  will  work,  liars 
will  tell  the  truth,  if  only  they  can  be  shown  that 
natural  instincts  and  legitimate  desires  can  be 
best  satisfied  by  upright  moral  conduct." 

Another  instance,  somewhat  different  in  type, 
will  illustrate  the  wide  range  of  the  method  which 
we  are  urging. 

A  young  man  fresh  from  college  was  placed  in 
charge  of  about  forty  as  determined  boys  and 
girls  as  ever  combined  to  break  in  "the  new 
teacher."  Having  received  no  instruction  in  the 
history  of  education,  he  was  wholly  unacquainted 
with  the  principles  which  enabled  Pestalozzi  to 
produce  one  of  the  most  disorderly  schools  of 
which  we  have  any  record,  and  to  have  his  name 
enrolled  with  honorable  mention  in  the  scroll  of 
"educational  reformers."  The  only  "methods" 
with  which  the  new  teacher  was  familiar  were 


314  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

those  used  in  the  schools  of  his  boyhood,  which 
could  hardly  have  been  worse.  Perhaps  his  igno- 
rance was  not  altogether  unfortunate.  At  any 
rate  he  had  been  spared,  in  his  lack  of  training, 
some  "model"  pedagogical  exhibitions  which  must 
seriously  disturb  the  celestial  bliss  of  those  in 
whose  names  the  performances  are  staged. 

The  necessity  of  maintaining  discipline  was  al- 
most the  only  "approved"  pedagogical  principle 
with  which  the  new  school-master  was  acquainted. 
That  there  is  more  than  one  sort  of  discipline, 
that  "good  order"  is  the  condition  in  a  group 
which  produces  the  highest  efficiency  of  the 
workers,  and  that  a  state  which  would  be  dis- 
orderly for  one  purpose  is  the  most  productive 
order  for  another,  was  as  little  known  to  him  as 
observation  indicates  it  is  to  many  teachers  to-day. 
So  he  set  himself  to  the  task  of  establishing  dis- 
cipline as  a  preliminary  to  teaching. 

Meanwhile  his  training  in  pedagogy  was  pro- 
gressing. The  teachers'  meetings  were  a  great 
help.  They  were  a  kind  of  general  "complainery  " 
where  all  the  faults  of  all  the  children  were  al- 
ways discussed.  It  did  not  occur  to  any  of  the 
teachers  at  that  time  that  such  general  and  contin- 
uous complaints  indicated  a  cause  in  themselves. 
They  were  serious  and  conscientious,  but  their 
conviction  was  always  in  evidence  that  the  pupils 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      315 

were  unappreciative  of  the  splendid  privilege  of 
being  under  their  instruction.  And  all  the  time 
they  were  dragging  the  children  through  their 
daily  tasks  like  convict  laborers  at  a  contract 
price.  Yet  they  wondered  why  the  vivacious 
youngsters  were  in  a  continual  state  of  suppressed 
revolt. 

These  experience  meetings  afforded  the  teachers 
a  great  deal  of  pedagogical  consolation.  This  com- 
fort came  chiefly  from  the  consciousness  that  others 
were  having  like  troubles  with  the  same  children, 
and  this  assurance  justified  the  conceit  in  each 
that  he  was  doing  things  in  the  right  way.  The 
part  of  the  symposium  which  consisted  of  a  run- 
ning commentary  on  the  pupils  was  never  slighted, 
and  afterward  as  much  of  the  time  as  was  left 
was  given  to  educational  questions  of  larger  im- 
port. 

By  this  time  the  new  teacher  was  obtaining 
some  little  knowledge  of  the  history  of  education. 
One  of  the  striking  facts  in  the  meetings,  as  well 
as  in  the  teachers'  institutes  which  he  attended, 
was  the  manifest  reverence  for  authority  and  the 
fluent  use  of  language  formulae  which  seemed  to 
have  no  very  definite  meaning  to  those  who  ut- 
tered them.  They  were  evidently  expressions 
which  had  been  heard  and  repeated  so  many 
times  that  they  rolled  out  glibly  when  the  right 


316  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

string  was  pulled.  Feeling  that  his  ignorance  of 
the  subject  and  lack  of  experience  called  for  an 
inquiring  attitude  of  mind,  the  new  teacher  some- 
times asked  what  the  expressions  meant  and  why 
they  should  be  accepted.  The  answer  was  always 
the  same.  Pestalozzi,  Froebel,  or  Herbart  said  so. 

Meanwhile  efforts  to  maintain  discipline  had 
succeeded,  as  far  at  least  as  concerned  visible  dis- 
order. The  teacher,  however,  was  continually  re- 
minded of  the  observation  that  the  eyes  of  some 
photographs  follow  one  in  every  direction  as  one 
passes  in  front  of  them.  The  only  difference  was 
that,  in  his  school,  the  eyes  stealthily  followed 
him  to  the  rear  of  the  room,  a  feat  of  which  pho- 
tographs, so  far  as  he  could  discover,  are  incapable. 

When  pedagogical  advice  was  sought  from  the 
experienced,  the  indefiniteness  of  the  response 
would  have  been  a  credit  to  the  oracles  of  ancient 
Greece.  "Get  them  interested  in  their  work," 
was  the  reply.  Very  good,  but  how?  Where  was 
the  stable  support  upon  which  to  rest  the  lever? 
Visits  to  the  classes  of  other  teachers  showed  the 
same  condition  of  inattention  to  work.  Some 
teachers  were  "securing  the  attention"  by  keep- 
ing the  inattentive  after  school.  It  was  notice- 
able, however,  that  the  same  children  generally 
remained.  Others  were  seeking  to  accomplish  the 
desired  result  by  sternness.  But  it  was  quite 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      317 

evident  that  all  were  cherishing  the  fond  delu- 
sion that  their  pupils  were  interested  in  their 
studies,  whereas  they  were  chiefly  occupied  with 
escaping  the  penalties  of  detection  in  their  pranks. 
Most  of  the  children  could  repeat  the  lesson  of 
the  book,  but  the  simplest  question  regarding 
cause  and  effect  made  it  clear  that  they  were 
repeating  from  memory,  a  feat  in  which  children 
are  astonishingly  proficient.  The  teacher  tried  to 
follow  the  advice  of  his  pedagogical  Nestors,  to 
make  the  work  interesting,  and  here  he  made  a 
discovery  in  child  psychology.  There  was  no  dif- 
ficulty in  making  a  recitation  interesting.  Stories 
about  the  men  or  events  of  the  lesson  and  bits  of 
applied  science  in  the  science  classes  did  that. 
The  children  sat  agog  during  the  recital.  But  the 
difficulty  arose  when  he  tried  to  carry  this  inter- 
est over  into  the  drier  facts  and  principles.  The 
only  portion  of  his  contribution  to  the  recitation 
which  the  children  remembered  on  the  following 
day  were  the  historical  and  biographical  stories 
and  the  striking  applications  of  science.  Their 
bearing  upon  the  topics  was  forgotten,  and  the 
teacher  was  unable  to  see  that  the  children  studied 
their  lessons  more  seriously  because  of  the  interest 
which  the  incidents  awakened.  The  result  forced 
the  conviction  that  the  momentary  interest  of  the 
children,  together  with  the  teachers'  enthusiasm 


318  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

for  the  exposition,  led  to  the  delusion  in  the  mind 
of  those  earnest  but  simple  pedagogues  that  in- 
terest awakened  by  devices  of  this  sort  spreads 
over  the  whole  work  and  increases  the  general  effi- 
ciency of  the  children.  The  teacher  became  sat- 
isfied that  the  interest  was  supposititious,  that 
even  in  the  grammar  school  scholastic  efficiency 
requires  a  more  solid  basis  than  involuntary  at- 
tention. So  he  decided  to  break  away  from  tra- 
dition and  try  an  experiment.  The  situation 
seemed  to  warrant  heroic  treatment.  The  chil- 
dren were  getting  practically  nothing  and  an- 
other plan  could  hardly  give  worse  results. 

Believing  that  the  change  would  be  more  effec- 
tive if  the  suggestion  came  from  their  leaders,  the 
teacher  invited  three  of  the  older  boys  to  go  fishing 
on  a  Saturday  morning.  No  fish  were  caught,  but 
every  one  had  a  good  time  and  an  opportunity  to 
talk  without  the  constraint  of  the  school-room. 
The  boys  conversed  freely,  as  is  easy  in  the 
woods,  and  it  was  not  long  before  they  were  tell- 
ing their  plans  for  the  future.  They  did  not 
think  that  they  were  getting  much  at  school,  a 
conclusion  to  which  the  teacher  silently  agreed, 
and  they  intended  to  leave  as  soon  as  their  par- 
ents would  give  permission. 

It  was  not  difficult  to  convince  them  that  skill 
in  tracking  questions  to  their  solution  and  the 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      319 

habit  of  accurate  thinking  would  be  serviceable 
in  their  practice  of  law  and  medicine,  or  in  what- 
ever occupation  they  might  select.  "  But  we  don't 
do  that,"  they  said;  "we  just  learn  what  the  book 
says." 

This  was  the  opportunity  for  suggesting  the  new 
plan.  It  was  put  in  the  form  of  questions.  Would 
they  like  it  and  would  it  work? 

They  thought  it  would  be  lots  of  fun  and  not  a 
bit  like  school,  but  they  didn't  think  some  of  the 
boys  would  study.  This  last  was  particularly  en- 
tertaining since  these  three  were  the  least  studious 
and  most  troublesome  in  the  school. 

They  were  told  that  they  could  make  it  work  if 
they  would,  but  if  they  did  not  like  the  idea  it  had 
better  not  be  tried. 

The  plan,  in  brief,  was  to  organize  the  school 
into  a  club  with  elective  officers.  Every  Satur- 
day they  would  go  into  the  woods  to  see  what 
they  could  find  for  the  science  and  geography 
classes.  The  club  was  to  have  charge  of  every- 
thing that  concerned  the  school  as  a  whole,  and 
each  class  should  decide  by  vote  at  the  close  of 
the  recitation  what  things  should  be  studied  for 
the  next  day.  The  idea  took  hold  of  them  at 
once.  They  decided  that  a  captain  was  needed, 
and  a  staff,  the  members  of  which  could  be  called 
upon  for  advice  and  assistance. 


320  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

"Yes,  and  every  one  must  obey  the  captain, 
just  as  in  a  ball  game,"  exclaimed  one. 

The  enthusiasm  grew  as  the  plan  began  to  take 
form.  They  said  that  they  would  talk  it  over 
with  the  others  and  then  call  a  meeting  for  gen- 
eral discussion  and  the  election  of  officers. 

During  the  next  few  days  the  school  was  filled 
with  subdued  excitement.  Groups  of  children 
were  standing  around  at  recess  in  earnest  dis- 
cussion. 

Finally,  on  the  fourth  day,  a  committee  of  boys 
went  to  the  desk  and  asked  if  they  might  hold  a 
meeting  and  would  the  teacher  attend. 

Of  course  he  agreed,  and  when  they  had  assem- 
bled at  close  of  school  he  took  a  seat  in  the  rear 
of  the  room. 

It  was  a  meeting  that  would  have  done  any 
school-master  good.  Crimination  of  the  system, 
of  themselves  and  of  their  teacher  who  sat  in  the 
rear  were  blended  in  a  medley. 

But  some  of  the  older  boys,  those  who  had 
been  on  the  fishing-trip,  soon  took  the  meeting 
in  hand. 

"This  is  our  chance,"  they  said.  "Reciting 
the  lesson  don't  do  us  any  good  if  we  don't  study, 
and  there  isn't  any  fun  always  taking  the  next 
two  pages.  If  the  plan  goes  through  we  can  say 
what  we'll  study."  This  last  seemed  to  be  the 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      321 

convincing  argument  with  several,  and  it  made 
the  teacher  sceptical  of  the  result. 

At  last  the  officers  were  elected.  The  captain 
detained  his  staff  a  moment  for  consultation. 

The  teacher  remarked  that  as  they  were  in 
charge  now  they  must  make  the  others  play  hard 
just  as  in  foot-ball.  And,  of  course,  they  must 
know  much  more  about  the  lesson  than  the  others 
so  as  to  be  able  to  direct,  as  the  captain  does  on 
the  field.  The  captain,  who  had  never  been 
caught  working  in  the  school,  was  very  serious, 
and  he  took  several  books  from  the  library,  some- 
thing that  he  had  never  done  before. 

When  the  class  assembled  on  the  following  day 
the  teacher  took  his  seat  on  the  benches  with  the 
pupils,  remarking  that  he  was  now  one  of  them, 
to  be  questioned  with  the  others. 

The  subject  was  geography.  One  of  the  pupils 
asked  a  question  which  the  captain  volunteered 
to  answer,  and  his  knowledge  was  a  wonder  to 
those  who  knew  his  previous  record.  But  this 
was  only  a  part  of  the  change.  Each  one  had 
something  to  contribute  to  the  answers  given. 
Often  the  discussion  was  general,  but  there  was 
no  disorder.  It  was  just  enthusiasm  for  informa- 
tion. 

The  teacher's  part  in  the  work  was  inconspicu- 
ous. There  was  little  for  him  to  do.  They  had 


322  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

consulted  so  many  books  that  on  several  topics 
their  information  was  more  varied  than  his  own, 
and  it  gave  them  great  pleasure  when  he  con- 
fessed ignorance.  This  pleasure,  however,  was 
quite  different  from  that  which  comes  with 
"catching  the  teacher."  It  was  pride  in  achieve- 
ment. 

The  work  was  serious  and  the  interest  intense. 
Would  it  extend  to  other  classes  and  would  it 
continue?  There  was  nothing  to  do  but  wait. 

The  other  classes  through  the  day  maintained 
the  same  vigor.  In  arithmetic  the  members  of 
the  staff  assisted  the  captain  in  helping  those  in 
trouble,  and  in  grammar  the  relations  expressed 
by  the  several  parts  of  the  sentences  never  re- 
ceived more  attention.  The  teacher  was  left  free 
to  give  assistance  where  most  needed. 

The  strange  thing  about  it  all,  from  the  school- 
master's point  of  view,  was  that,  as  time  went  on, 
the  enthusiasm  for  study  increased.  The  children 
took  a  different  attitude  toward  their  work. 
There  was  no  comfort  for  shirkers.  The  general 
smile  that  frequently  greeted  failures  under  the 
old  method  was  distressingly  absent.  Not  to 
know  one's  lesson  was  unpleasant.  And  yet  more 
work  was  assigned  than  the  teacher  had  ever 
dared  to  give. 

The  officers  acted  as  a  kind  of  committee  of 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      323 

safety.  Everything  that  interfered  with  what  the 
pupils  had  organized  to  do  was  referred  to  them. 
If  any  criticism  of  their  decisions  is  justified,  it  is 
that  they  tended  toward  undue  severity  in  their 
judgments.  They  did  not  always  take  the  per- 
sonal equation  of  the  offender  into  account.  They 
were  more  inclined  to  make  the  punishment  fit  the 
crime  than  the  boy.  This,  however,  did  not  have 
the  disastrous  effect  that  is  likely  to  follow  a  simi- 
lar error  on  the  part  of  a  teacher.  The  children 
accepted  the  verdict  as  though  it  were  a  retribu- 
tion of  nature  for  violating  her  immutable  laws. 
The  penalty  was  painful  but  necessary. 

If  complaints  were  brought  to  the  teacher,  he 
refused  to  consider  them  until  the  officers  had 
acted.  Most  of  the  irritations  among  school  chil- 
dren, as  elsewhere,  are  trivial.  When  the  teacher 
may  be  held  responsible  the  annoyances  are  ex- 
aggerated. This  is  because  of  the  state  of  armed 
truce  between  pupils  and  teacher.  If  an  elected 
body  of  their  own  associates  is  responsible,  the 
children  easily  adapt  themselves  to  their  decisions 
whichever  way  they  may  fall. 

The  officers  felt  actively  responsible  for  the  suc- 
cess of  whatever  was  undertaken,  and  the  senti- 
ment of  fair  play  served  to  compel  the  others  to 
unite  in  their  support.  This  feeling  of  responsi- 
bility extended  to  the  studies  and  stimulated  each 


324  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

to  do  the  best  of  which  he  was  capable.  It  re- 
lieved the  teacher  of  many  cares  and  made  him 
a  leader  instead  of  a  driver.  The  children  were 
continually  hunting  for  information  and  interpre- 
tations which  they  could  contribute  to  the  com- 
mon fund  of  knowledge.  The  text-book  ceased 
to  be  the  one  thing  studied,  and  "the  lesson"  was 
no  longer  committed  to  memory.  The  captain 
and  his  staff  changed  in  a  single  day  what  the 
teacher  had  vainly  striven  for  two  months  to 
alter. 

The  experiment  was  suggested  by  the  belief 
that  permanent  interest  must  rest  upon  some- 
thing more  substantial  than  involuntary  atten- 
tion secured  through  attractive  devices  in  the 
recitation.  This  sort  of  interest  lacks  durable 
qualities.  It  encourages  the  demand  for  enter- 
tainment and  dulls  the  sensitiveness  for  less  di- 
verting knowledge.  The  racial  instinct  to  do 
things,  to  investigate,  to  control  and  to  be  con- 
trolled by  the  common  sentiment  of  their  fellows, 
seems,  on  the  other  hand,  to  furnish  a  solid  basis 
for  interest.  The  studies  of  the  school  then  gain 
all  the  enthusiasm  which  attends  self-imposed 
activities. 

We  have  seen  that  with  the  growth  in  complex- 
ity of  the  nervous  system,  animals  become  more 
responsive  to  their  environment.  Stimuli  have 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      325 

more  meaning  for  them.  Among  the  lower  ani- 
mals, in  their  native  habitat,  the  sole  purpose  of 
successful  response  we  have  found  to  be  survival. 
But  with  the  advent  of  civilization  intelligent  pur- 
pose should  replace  the  blind  impulses  which  prim- 
itive man  inherited  from  his  lower  kin. 

Increased  adaptive  flexibility  means  an  en- 
larged educational  capacity.  More  physical  and 
mental  adjustments  are  at  the  disposal  of  teachers. 
This  is  one  of  the  differences  between  the  lower 
animals  and  man,  as  well  as  between  primitive 
and  civilized  races.  Animals  and  primitive  man 
have  each  their  own  limits  of  expansion  and  no 
system  of  education  can  carry  them  beyond  these 
confines.  The  bounds  of  civilized  man,  however, 
have  been  greatly  enlarged  through  his  improved 
cerebral  organization.  But  this  highly  differen- 
tiated nervous  system  to  which  man  is  heir  re- 
quires for  its  complete  growth  a  correspondingly 
varied  environment.  A  structure  which  has  at- 
tained such  marvellous  complexity  by  battling 
with  nature's  forces  through  the  ages,  cannot  be 
conserved  on  a  starvation  allowance  of  stimuli. 
As  adequate  excitations  are  needed  for  its  preser- 
vation in  the  individual  as  were  required  for  its 
acquisition  by  the  race.  The  difference  is  that 
the  events  and  situations  which  are  to  act  as 
stimuli  must  now  be  purposive — definitely  planned 


326  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

to  accomplish  human  ends.  This  is  the  part  which 
intelligence  should  play  in  promoting  growth  dur- 
ing immaturity.  Nature  met  the  earlier  needs  of 
man,  but  her  aim  was  satisfied  with  the  product  of 
her  unintelligent,  non-moral  forces.  Thinking 
beings  were  only  an  incident  in  her  programme. 
But  after  all,  self-consciousness  must  have  some 
evolutionary  reason  for  existing  and  its  justifica- 
tions would  seem  to  be  the  part  that  it  may  play 
in  furthering  the  evolution  of  the  species  which 
possesses  it.  Since,  then,  nature  has  no  interest 
in  human  ideals,  man  himself  must  take  advan- 
tage of  the  intelligence  which  fortuitous  varia- 
tion has  produced  to  promote  his  own  evolu- 
tion. And  this  involves  selection  of  incentives 
to  growth. 

Now  the  range  of  adaptations  in  the  school  is 
too  limited.  I  do  not  mean  that  the  studies  are 
few.  Subjects  of  study  may  or  may  not  act  as 
stimuli.  The  mere  facts  that  they  are  in  the  curric- 
ulum and  that  the  children  attend  the  classes  do 
not  make  them  developing  forces.  This  effective- 
ness depends  upon  the  relation  of  the  individual 
to  the  situations  of  which  they  form  a  part.  Let 
us  illustrate  again  by  reference  to  the  lower  ani- 
mals. Jackals  have  probably  played  no  essential 
part  in  the  evolution  of  lions,  but  lions,  on  the 
other  hand,  have  doubtless  been  a  very  important 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      327 

factor  in  producing  the  cowardly,  sneaking  char- 
acteristics of  jackals.  Some  forces  in  nature  are 
passive  as  regards  certain  animals,  though  these 
animals  live  in  constant  contact  with  them.  What- 
ever influence  these  forces  possess  depends  upon 
their  relation  to  the  requirements  of  the  animals 
for  survival.  Among  the  lower  animals  this  re- 
lation is  settled  by  nature,  who  is  a  relentless 
school-master.  In  man,  however,  the  test  of  an 
influence  is  not  so  clear.  Adaptation  here  is  not 
a  fixed  response  to  a  given  set  of  conditions.  For 
this  reason  one  cannot  always  determine  in  ad- 
vance the  sort  of  conditions  which  are  needed  in 
a  given  instance.  The  great  variety  of  human  tem- 
peraments requires  variations  in  stimuli  for  the 
attainment  of  the  same  result.  Experiments  are 
often  necessary.  These  require  flexibility  in  the 
system.  But  the  schools  are  rigid.  This  results 
in  lack  of  adjustment  with  accompanying  mental 
irritation,  if  not  truancy  and  incorrigibility. 

Experiments,  however,  must  have  a  purpose.  It 
is  necessary  to  know  what  one  is  trying  to  do. 
And  it  is  just  here  that  teachers  have  shown  least 
intelligence.  Modern  educational  theory  and 
practice  are  contradictory.  Ask  the  purpose  of 
education  and  the  answer  will  always  be  in  terms 
of  ability  to  do  things.  No  other  answer  is  pos- 
sible when  we  remember  how  soon  facts  and  in- 


328  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

formation  are  forgotten.  Yet,  in  practice,  teachers 
are  chiefly  concerned  with  the  content  of  knowl- 
edge. When  you  ask  of  them  the  reason  for 
their  inconsistency  the  reply  always  is:  "We  are 
required  to  finish  the  book  by  the  end  of  the 
year." 

The  inadequacy  of  the  school  as  a  place  where 
boys  may  be  stimulated  to  thought  and  action  is 
illustrated  by  the  following  instance  which  can  be 
reproduced  many  times  in  all  essential  respects 
from  any  school. 

"The  boy  hated  anything  connected  with  study, 
school,  or  teachers.  The  parents  never  inquired 
why  this  was  so,  and  could  not  give  a  reason. 
He  had  nothing  against  his  teachers,  except  as  they 
represented  the  school,1  The  parents,  believing  in 
education,  had  no  fault  to  find  with  the  school, 
and  were  able  and  willing  to  send  him  another 
year.  But  each  morning  he  had  to  be  urged  and 
driven  to  school.  Otherwise  he  was  one  of  the 
best  boys  imaginable,  helping  his  mother  to  take 
care  of  the  little  ones,  and  bringing  in  coal,  wood, 
etc.  He  would  coax  her  to  let  him  stay  away 
from  school  and  offer  to  do  the  washing,  wheel 
the  baby  all  day  around  the  door-yard,  and  do 
any  work  or  anything  she  wanted  him  to  do  if 
he  could  stay  away  from  his  books.  His  parents 

1  The  italics  in  this  quotation  are  the  author's. 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      329 

were  anxious  for  him  to  stand  as  well  in  school 
as  his  elder  brothers  and  sisters,  but  they  saw  it 
was  of  no  use;  he  simply  could  not  learn;  even 
the  alphabet,  they  said,  was  incomprehensible. 
He  got  along  with  figures  a  little  better.  When 
he  was  old  enough  to  get  his  working-papers  his 
father  and  mother  discussed  the  situation,  and 
very  reluctantly  consented  to  allow  him  to  go  to 
work.  Three  months  previous  to  his  birthday  he 
began  a  systematic  visiting  of  the  machine-rooms 
in  different  mills  and  found  a  position  that  suited 
him  in  the  same  industry,  but  not  in  the  same 
mill,"  in  which  his  father  was  employed.  He 
promptly  took  the  position  one  week  after  leav- 
ing school.  "What  he  had  learned  in  the  three 
months  of  observation  and  visiting  among  the 
machinists  enabled  him  to  take  an  unusually  ad- 
vanced position,  causing  considerable  surprise  to 
his  parents,  who  had  begun  to  think  him  hope- 
lessly dull.  He  has  advanced  in  knowledge  of 
machinery  so  much  within  the  past  eight  months 
that  his  employer  has  offered  to  have  him  taught 
the  machinist's  trade  at  his  own  expense.  .  .  .  In 
the  mean  time  he  has  begun  to  see  the  application  of 
figures  in  mechanics,  and  studies  his  arithmetic  when- 
ever he  can.  He  is  entirely  changed,  his  mother 
says,  alert  and  quick  where  he  used  to  be  dull, 
and  much  happier,  always  up  early  and  ready  to 


330  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

go  to  work,  and  'does  not  work  with  his  eyes  on 
the  clock.'"1 

The  value  of  handwork  as  a  mental  stimulus  for 
boys  has  been  demonstrated  also  in  Muskegon, 
Michigan.  From  the  time  of  the  introduction  of 
manual  training  in  the  high  school  the  total  en- 
rolment and  average  attendance  has  steadily  in- 
creased though  the  number  of  children  of  school 
age,  as  shown  by  the  school  census,  has  decreased 
each  year.  The  cause  of  this  increase  in  the  high 
school  cannot  be  explained  by  the  change  in  the 
character  of  the  population  because,  as  the  lum- 
ber interests  declined,  factories  have  taken  their 
places,  and  factory  workmen  are  not  conspicuous 
for  sending  their  children  to  the  high  school. 
Superintendent  Frost,  in  speaking  of  the  effect  of 
manual  work  upon  the  boys,  says2  that  "they  are 
able  to  interpret  the  meaning  of  a  high  school 
course  through  the  contact  with  life  which  they 
get  by  means  of  the  work  taken  in  the  manual- 
training  school." 

The  cases  which  we  have  just  cited  are  illustra- 
tions of  one  way  of  making  some  boys  think. 
But  while  manual  training  should  be  taken  by 
all  children  and  trade  schools  should  be  a  part  of 

1  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor:   "  Report  on  Condition 
of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners  in  the  United  States,"  vol.  VII, 
p.  118.     Washington,  1910. 

2  Letter  to  the  author. 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      331 

the  public-school  system,  their  introduction  does 
not  quash  the  indictment  against  the  schools.  In- 
deed many  teachers  of  these  subjects  are  already 
demonstrating  that  manual  training  may  be  made 
as  much  of  a  bore  as  anything  else.  Like  the 
public-school  teachers  of  sciences,1  they  are  driv- 
ing the  children  from  their  classes.  A  prevalent 
error  among  school  men  is  the  belief  that  some 
magic  device  may  yet  be  discovered  which  will 
stem  the  tide  that  is  setting  in  against  them. 
Not  long  ago  nature  study  was  to  be  the  savior 
of  their  system.  But  nature  with  all  her  life  and 
beauty  soon  withered  under  the  blighting  hand  of 
formalism.  Only  thinking  teachers  can  make 
children  think.  And  the  first  requisite  for  free 
interplay  of  thoughts  is  release  from  the  suffocat- 
ing atmosphere  of  the  school  consciousness.  Chil- 
dren are  mentally  asphyxiated  by  the  noxious  air 
of  pedantry. 

It  is  an  accepted  principle  in  psychology  that 
physiological  processes  underlie  mental  processes. 
If  we  try  to  picture  to  ourselves  the  physiological 
condition  which  represents  the  neural  side  of  the 
school  consciousness,  two  facts  at  once  disclose 
themselves:  the  emotional  attitude  and  inhibitory 
impulses.  If  we  accept  the  James-Lange  view  of 

1  For  proof  of  this  statement  regarding  the  sciences,  see  "  Report 
of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  1910,"  vol.  II, 
p.  1139. 


332  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

the  emotions,  and  some  form  of  this  theory  is  at 
present  the  only  intelligible  statement  of  the 
affective  side  of  the  mental  life,  they  reduce  to 
one,  since  inhibitory  impulses  then  become  a  part 
of  the  emotional  response.  The  physiological  as- 
pect of  the  school  consciousness  is,  then,  neural 
resistance  or  obstruction.  Nervous  centres  refuse 
to  send  out  the  impulses  which  would  excite  other 
centres  and  by  cerebral  association  produce,  in 
turn,  related  ideas.  Again,  counter-currents  may 
be  sent  out  which  not  only  oppose  the  desired 
action,  but,  besides,  lead  to  adverse  responses. 
Under  these  conditions  the  brain  becomes  a  storm 
centre  of  opposing  and  aberrant  nervous  impulses, 
and  the  mind  loses  all  docility. 

Thinking  involves  association  of  ideas  and,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  law  of  association  is  primarily 
a  neural  matter.  "When  two  elementary  brain 
processes  have  been  active  together  or  in  imme- 
diate succession,  one  of  them  on  reoccurring 
tends  to  propagate  its  excitement  into  the  other," 
is  the  way  in  which  James  has  described  it.  Re- 
tention and  recall  are  also  dependent  upon  cere- 
bral processes.  The  excitement  of  a  group  of  cells 
connected  with  the  idea  in  consciousness  spreads 
to  other  cells  the  activity  of  which  results  in  the 
appearance  in  consciousness  of  associated  ideas. 
This  is  the  way  in  which  it  works  out  when  there 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      333 

is  no  interference  with  cerebral  habits.  But  ner- 
vous processes  are  exceedingly  sensitive  to  outer 
conditions.  A  man  who  has  made  careful  prepara- 
tion for  a  public  address  finds  that  his  ideas  do 
not  readily  come  when  he  stands  before  his  audi- 
ence. Again,  there  are  persons  in  whose  pres- 
ence our  thoughts  refuse  to  freely  flow.  Perhaps 
it  is  from  embarrassment,  or  we  may  be  vaguely 
conscious  of  lack  of  sympathy  with  our  views. 
The  cause  does  not  matter.  The  fact  is  the  im- 
portant thing.  The  nerve  centres  for  the  time 
seem  paralyzed.  They  refuse  to  act.  The  mo- 
ment we  are  alone  or  with  a  sympathetic  friend, 
the  neural  dam  is  broken  and  we  think  of  a  dozen 
answers  which  we  might  have  given  in  reply  to 
the  objections  that  were  raised. 

A  physician  with  a  large  operative  practice  has 
told  the  writer  of  a  prolonged  state  of  cerebral 
inhibition  under  circumstances  in  which  it  would 
be  least  expected.  When  he  tried  to  dictate  the 
description  of  his  clinical  cases  to  his  stenographer, 
ideas  refused  to  come.  He  found  it  impossible  to 
think  out  the  description  of  his  cases  or  the  changes 
produced  by  the  operation,  though  in  the  presence 
of  physicians  he  talked  fluently  about  them.  When 
he  analyzed  the  cause  he  found  that  it  was  embar- 
rassment produced  by  the  feeling  that  his  stenog- 
rapher might  not  think  highly  of  his  opinion.  It 


334  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

was  only  after  an  extended  treatment  by  auto- 
suggestion that  he  overcame  the  cerebral  resist- 
ance. Before  beginning  to  dictate  he  repeated 
to  himself  many  times  that  any  one  who  would 
work  for  fifty  dollars  a  month  was  so  stupid  that 
his  opinion  was  not  worth  considering. 

Children  are  especially  sensitive  to  these  mental 
disturbances.  Opposing  nervous  currents  and  in- 
hibitions are  easily  produced.  Sometimes  it  is  the 
business  attitude  of  teachers  toward  their  work 
which  causes  the  trouble.  Many  teach  because  it 
is  the  most  convenient  way  of  earning  a  living. 
They  instruct  as  they  would  dig  ditches,  anxious 
merely  to  do  as  much  as  will  enable  them  to  draw 
their  wages.  "Latin  would  be  so  interesting,"  said 
a  boy  of  thirteen,  "if  my  teacher  only  seemed  to 
love  it." 

Another  instance  was  reported  to  the  writer  of 
a  young  woman  who  was  teaching  in  a  small  high 
school.  She  was  just  out  of  college  and  was  so 
full  of  enthusiasm  for  her  work  that  she  could  not 
resist  the  pleasure  of  talking  about  it  with  her 
associates.  "You  will  not  be  so  enthusiastic  after 
you  have  taught  fifteen  years,"  replied  one  who 
had  had  the  long  experience  so  often  thought  to 
enhance  the  value  of  a  teacher. 

Again,  it  is  lack  of  interest  in  the  children's 
sports  which  starts  opposing  nervous  currents  A 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      335 

young  women  free  from  the  ennui  of  years  of 
drudgery  in  traditional  methods  introduced  the 
startling  innovation  in  her  school  of  attending  the 
baseball  games  of  her  pupils.  Her  first  appear- 
ance on  the  field  created  such  a  sensation  that  she 
heard  about  it  from  many  parents.  And  the  at- 
titude of  her  pupils  changed  at  once.  She  was 
now  one  of  them.  Her  school-room  was  no  longer 
an  ogre's  den. 

If  children  are  to  do  their  best  work  mental  re- 
straints must  be  removed  so  as  to  give  free  play 
to  associative  processes.  So  long  as  the  teacher 
and  pupils  are  in  opposing  camps,  secret  or  open 
warfare  will  be  waged.  And  this  feeling  of  hos- 
tility creates  an  attitude  of  resistance  which  inhib- 
its the  effective  interaction  of  nervous  currents. 
Thoughtful  teachers  admit  this  opposition  of  inter- 
ests. Those  who  deny  it  do  so  because  of  the 
implication  that  they  are  unsuccessful.  So  they 
continue  to  chatter  about  the  delight  of  their 
pupils  in  their  studies.  But  one  has  only  to  at- 
tend their  classes  or  hear  the  children  talk  among 
themselves  to  dispel  the  delusion. 

We  have  indicated  by  illustrative  examples  va- 
rious ways  in  which  the  resistance  of  pupils  may 
be  overcome.  Put  in  general  terms  the  problem 
is  to  break  down  the  distinction  between  school- 
work  and  the  activities  in  which  children  engage 


336  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

among  themselves.  To  accomplish  this,  the  school 
must  be  made  more  like  life  in  the  larger  world. 
The  school  consciousness  is  an  artificial  product 
which  exists  nowhere  else.  It  is  the  result  of 
the  tradition  that  children  do  not  wish  to  study 
and  that  consequently  they  must  be  compelled  to 
endure  the  agony.  Joined  with  this  tradition  is 
the  belief  that  drudgery  increases  the  value  of  the 
training.  That  which  is  pleasant  is  thought  to 
lose  efficiency  in  proportion  to  the  joy  that  it 
gives  the  pupils.  A  prominent  historian  once  told 
a  friend  of  the  writer  that  if  he  thought  his  books 
were  interesting  he  would  destroy  them.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  neither  this  historian  nor 
many  writers  in  other  fields  have  any  present 
occasion  to  begin  a  wholesale  destruction  of  their 
books. 

But  pleasant  and  easy,  as  the  writer  has  said 
elsewhere,1  are  not  synonyms.  One  is  often 
amazed  at  the  difficulty  of  the  tasks  which  chil- 
dren undertake.  Their  available  energy  seems 
inexhaustible  when  they  have  freedom  to  act  and 
interact  among  themselves.  They  then  build  up 
a  system  of  ideas  and  standards  which  appeal  to 
them  because  they  grow  out  of  their  own  com- 
plex social  relations.  Some  of  these  ideas  and 
standards  pass  away  and  are  replaced  by  others 

1  "Mind  in  the  Making,"  p.  113. 


THE  RELEASE  OF  MENTAL  FORCES      337 

because  they  do  not  fit  the  needs  of  the  children. 
But  through  it  all  there  is  a  constructive  growth 
in  habits  of  work.  When  minds  have  free  inter- 
play, variations  occur  in  methods  of  doing  the 
things  in  which  each  one  has  a  share,  and  the 
ways  which  "do  not  work"  are  discarded  for 
those  that  do.  Pleasure  in  the  activity  is  impor- 
tant here  because  it  stimulates  the  nerve  centres. 
The  selection  of  ways  and  means  by  the  learner 
is  also  in  better  accord  with  the  needs  of  the  situa- 
tion when  he  enjoys  his  occupation.  Under  free 
interplay  of  nervous  impulses  the  disadvantageous 
factors  in  the  learning  process  are  more  quickly 
eliminated.  Put  in  simpler  language,  enthusiasm 
frees  the  mind  from  restraints. 

Throughout  the  animal  kingdom,  stimuli  are  al- 
lurements to  an  increase  of  vital  action  in  the  or- 
ganism. Among  lower  forms,  as  we  have  seen, 
death  is  the  penalty  for  those  who  do  not  accept 
the  offer.  In  man,  punishment  at  first  took  the 
place  of  the  death  penalty  inflicted  by  nature 
upon  recalcitrants.  Now  that  civilization  has  ad- 
vanced beyond  this  stage,  some  incentive  to  adap- 
tation must  replace  the  earlier,  cruder  forces.  And 
the  stimuli  consciously  applied  should  have  a  defi- 
nite purpose.  In  other  words,  teachers  should 
first  find  out  what  they  are  trying  to  do  with 
their  pupils,  and  when  they  have  ascertained  this 


338  YOUTH  AND  THE  RACE 

they  should  plan  situations  which  will  stir  the 
children's  zeal  for  action.  The  racial  and  social 
instincts  are  exhaustless  storage-batteries  of  ner- 
vous energy,  and  it  is  direction  of  these  forces 
rather  than  restraint  that  is  needed  in  the  schools. 
It  is  no  idle  charge  that  teachers  do  not  know 
what  they  are  trying  to  do.  One  needs  but  to 
read  the  pedagogical  literature  and  attend  the  in- 
stitutes to  see  how  indefinite  are  their  purposes. 
Vague  phrases  about  mental  discipline  and  moral 
training  have  long  been  the  school-masters'  chief 
asset.  It  is  time  for  them  to  take  an  account  of 
stock  and  reorganize  before  the  outraged  public 
puts  the  schools  in  the  hands  of  receivers. 

Definite  rules  of  action  for  tapping  the  reser- 
voirs of  racial  and  social  energy  cannot  be  given. 
It  is  largely  a  matter  of  personality  and  tact  in 
dealing  with  children.  But  the  first  requirement 
in  the  teacher  is  to  remove  the  coating  of  peda- 
gogical tradition.  Then  he  is  ready  to  absorb  mod- 
ern ideas.  If  such  a  teacher  determines  to  find 
a  plan  which  will  create  in  the  children  the  same 
enthusiasm  for  school-work  as  they  have  for  their 
own  activities,  he  will  know  when  he  has  succeeded. 
The  examples  which  have  been  given  indicate  the 
method. 


INDEX 


Abbotsholme,  304-305 
Adaptation,  among  animals,  85- 

89,  97,  99-100,  289-290;  in 

man,  98-99,  101,  103,  232, 

288-290,  326-327 
Addams,  Jane,  248 
Adventure,   spirit   of,   chap.    I; 

illustrations,  1-5,  8-26,  31, 

35;    racial  justification  for, 

6-7,  28,  35 
Attention,  46,  253-257,  266,  268, 

284-286 
Ayres,  Leonard,  92,  186 

Bernstein,  Ludwig,  69-70 

Boas,  88 

Bolton,  7 

Boy  Scouts,  32, 35-36, 49, 82,  284 

Burk,  Caroline  F.,  185 

Case,  G.  M.,  93 

Castle,  87 

Cattell,  J.  McKeen,  in 

Child,  tie  "average,"  79,  173, 
184,  187;  the  backward,  96, 
160,  173,  310;  the  bright, 
132,  173,  187-188,  192,  198; 
the  defective,  90-93,  173- 
174;  the  dull,  184,  191-192. 
See  also  retardation  and 
elimination;  the  incorrigi- 
ble, 47,  50,  56,  62,  103-104, 
108,  115,  117,  140,  160,  175- 
178,  181, 183, 196, 216.  See 
also  junior  republics  and  re- 
form schools;  the  underfed, 
95-96 

Clark,  Lotta  A.,  238-240 

Committee  on  School  Inquiry  of 
the  New  York  Board  of 


Estimate  and  Apportion- 
ment, 141 

Co-operation,  67-68, 77, 137,  235, 
304-305.  See  also  pupil- 
government 

Criminal  tendencies,  effect  of 
slums,  101;  juvenile  court 
reports  concerning,  105;  de- 
ferred instincts,  231.  See 
also  playgrounds  and  junior 
republics 

Culin,  Stewart,  7 

Curriculum,  36-37,  307;  its  sa- 
credness,  193-194,  326 

Darwin,  Charles,  288 

Darwin,  Francis,  290 

Davenport,  86 

Democracy,  characteristics  of, 
144;  public  schools  and,  134, 
142;  social  centres  and,  150 

Demolins,  Edmond,  304 

De  Quincey,  86 

De  Varigny,  87-89 

Discipline,  46,  61,  67-69,  71, 
240-241,  244,  256;  special 
classes  for,  138-139.  See 
also  pupil-government 

Dollinger,  86 

Education,  action  an  element  in, 
222,  242-243.  See  also  chap. 
VII;  attention  and,  266; 
compulsory  laws  for,  134; 
dissatisfaction  with,  63;  ex- 
perimental method  in,  197; 
flexibility  in,  210;  growing 
points  of,  255;  imagination 
and,  171-172;  the  individual 
and,  chap.  V;  inconsisten- 


339 


340 


INDEX 


cies  in,  175, 327;  instincts  as 
allies,  28-29;  modern  prob- 
lems of,  21 1, 301 ;  need  of  in- 
centives to,  136-137;  ner- 
vous system  and,  301;  new 
epoch  in,  181;  of  parents, 
156,  159-161;  poverty  and, 
156-157;  rewards  and,  308- 
309;  situation  to-day,  129, 
140;  standards  of,  133;  trial 
and  error  method  in,  290, 
299 

Elimination  from  school,  129- 
131,  183.  See  also  retarda- 
tion 

Ellis,  Havelock,  in 

Eminent  men,  unorthodox  school- 
ing and,  202,  217;  early  en- 
vironment of,  1 13 

Enthusiasm  in  education,  337; 
among  gangs,  273;  how  to 
secure  it,  35-36,  83,  238,  240 

Environment,  79,  200,  292,  chap. 
III.  See  also  genius  and 
eminent  men 

Experiment  and  education,  197, 
255,  327 

Fisk,  John,  300 
Flynt,  Josiah,  229-231 
Forbush,  246-247 
Froebel,  316 
Frost,  J.  M.,  330 

Galton,  Francis,  in,  113-114 

Games,  7,  105 

Gangs,  chap.  VII;  age  for,  235, 
246-247;  characteristics  of, 
247-249,  251,  263,  278; 
leader  of,  280-284;  reasons 
for  organizing,  258;  the 
school  and,  275-276 

Genius,  its  environment,  in 
113,  197,  200 

Geography,  37 

George,  W.  R.,  224-228 

Grammar,  36,  194 

Gunckel,  J.  E..  260-262 


Habit,  morality  and,  122,  126, 

245 
Hebrew  Sheltering  Guardian  So- 

ciety, 52-53 
Herbart,  208,  316 
Herder,  300 
Heredity,  88,  97,  114;  as  a  social 

force,  no,  121 
Hodge,  C.  H.,  121 
Holmes,  Arthur,  309-313 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  85 

Individual  differences  in  children, 

189-190,  193,  195,  198-199, 

201,307,310;  provision  for, 

173-175,  180,  184 
Individualism  of  childhood,  279; 

early  signs  of,  75,  80,  235 
Inhibition,  36-37,  332,  334 
Initiative  in  childhood,  36,  38,  73, 

75,    221.     See    also    pupil- 

government 
Interest,  316-318,  324.    See  also 

pupil-government 

James,  William,  332 
Jennings,  290,  300 
Johnson,  257 

Junior  republics,   179-184,   206, 
218,  224 

Klebs,  288-289 
Kropotkin,  97 

Lawlessness  of  boys,  64-65,  273. 

See  also  racial  instincts 
Lindsey,  Judge,  272-275,  277 

Manual  training  in  the  schools, 
243,  3"-3i2,  330- 


Massachusetts    Commission    on 

Industrial  Education,  133 
Medical    inspection   of   schools, 

9°-93,  9°,  l65 

Mind,  compartment  idea  of,  215, 
234;  unity  of,  215 


INDEX 


341 


Moral  training,  50,  66,  69,  74, 
303-304;  chap.  VI;  relation 
to  education,  125-128,  216; 
report  of  Committee  on 
Teaching  Morals,  65,  70,  80. 
See  also  environment,  junior 
republics,  pupil-government, 
and  slums 

National  Education  Association, 
64,  197 

Nervous  system,  complexity  of, 
36,  300,  324-325;  effect  of 
eye  strain,  93-95;  functional 
craving  for  adventure,  38; 
opposing  currents,  333~335J 
relation  to  education,  301; 
slow  response  of,  187 

New  York  Association  for  Im- 
proving the  Condition  of  the 
Poor,  157 

Odin,  Alfred,  111-113 

Pearson,  Karl,  in,  113 

Pestalozzi,  208,  313,  316 

Pfungst,  Oscar,  294 

Physical  defects  of  school  chil- 
dren, 90-97;  retardation 
and,  92;  truancy  and,  93 

Playgrounds,  influence  of,  103- 
106,  121.  See  also  games 

Poverty,  education  and,  155-157; 
good  citizenship  and,  158 

Primitive  instincts.  See  racial 
instincts 

Prisons  and  reformative  work, 
118-120,  218-219 

Promotion,  67,  185-189 

Puffer,  246,  248,  263 

Punishment,  33-34,  54-5<5,  7°. 
134,  219 

Pupil-government,  chap.  II;  fail- 
ures in,  78;  influence  of,  58- 
62,  69,  82;  moral  growth 
through,  74,  224;  practical 
results  of,  47-63,  66,  74,  76, 
338-240 


Racial  fears,  6-7 

Racial  instincts,  chap.  I;  effect 
of  inattention  to,  10-22;  en- 
vironment and,  231-232;  re- 
version in  adults,  29-30; 
tendency  to  reversion,  82, 
258;  utilization  of,  9,  28-29, 
32,  35-40,  57-58,  164,  231- 
232,  269-275,  285,  310-312 

Reddie,  Cecil,  304-305 

Reform  schools,  93,  96,  107-109, 
115,  117,  216,  224 

Responsibility,  36,  60-70,  77,  80- 

82,  117,  127,  241,323 
Retardation,  92,   129-130,   165, 

173,  186,  198 

Schmankewitsch,  87 

School  city,  49,  54,  57-62,  77, 

81-83 
School  consciousness,  61,  67-68, 

83,  306,  336 

School  efficiency,  38,  67-68,  135; 
failure  in,  204;  method  of 
fostering,  167,  222;  radius 
of,  137-138;  tests  of,  206 
School  leagues,  166-168 
School  visitor,  159-160,  171 
Schools,  Washington,  Allston, 
Mass.,  56;  4  Bronx,  159;  23 
Bronx,  49-50, 60;  109  Brook- 
lyn, 50,  59-60;  Kinzie,  Chi- 
cago, 146, 149;  McKinley,  St. 
Louis,  306;  52  Manhattan, 
52-56;  no  Manhattan,  47, 
60-62;  114  Manhattan,  52; 
147  Manhattan,  58,  60,  81; 
Thirteenth  Avenue,  Newark, 
51,  53,  57 5  Seward,  Minne- 
apolis, 149;  community  and, 
chap.  IV;  democracy  and, 
134;  dissatisfaction  with, 
132-133,141;  failure  to  edu- 
cate, 140-141;  investigation 
in  New  York,  141;  politics 
and,  142-143,  150,  168-169; 
social  resp'onsibility  of,  79- 
80, 127, 148, 200, 234;  special, 


342 


INDEX 


for  backward  children,  138- 
139,  165,  173-174;  for  de- 
fectives, 173-174;  for  incor- 
rigibles,  175-178,  255 

Self-control.  See  pupil-govern- 
ment 

Self-government,  144.  See  also 
chap.  II 

Sentimentality,  38,  67 

Shaw,  Bernard,  60 

Sheldon,  246-247 

Slums,  influence  of,  101-102, 106, 
125,  128.  See  also  environ- 
ment 

Small,  W.  S.,  291-292 

Social  centres,  145-147,  149; 
causes  of  failure,  153-154; 
results  in  rural  districts,  152; 
significance  of,  147-148, 

151-152 

Social  consciousness,  61,  67-68, 
306 

Societies,  Boston  Newsboys'  As- 
sociation, 162-164;  Boys' 
Protective  Society,  33;  Boy- 
ville,  260-262;  Boy  Scouts, 
32,  35,  284;  Brotherhood 
Club,  118;  Knights  of  King 
Arthur,  284 

Stevens,  Romiett,  222 

Suggestion,  35-36,  76,  265,  271, 

319  ff. 
Superintendents,  143,  153,  168 


Tardiness,  53;  playgrounds  and, 
106 

Thorndike,  E.  L.,  130,  131,  140, 
221 

Trade-learning  and  the  tene- 
ments, 137 

Truancy,  37,  53,  59,  62,  95,  96, 
313;  compulsory  education 
and,  134,  135;  home  condi- 
tions and,  107;  truant 
schools,  138,  179,  180 

Truthfulness,  pupil-government 
and, 74 

Twain,  Mark,  260 


United  States  Commissioner  of 
Labor,  131,  156,  191,  192 


Van  Denburg,  129,  130,  186 
Van  Sickle,  185 


Will,  the,  character  and,  126; 
mistaken  views  concerning, 
123;  relation  to  psychologi- 
cal laws,  124 

Witmer,  Lightner,  296,  297,  298 

Woods,  F.  A.,  88,  114 


Yerkes,  R.  M.,  293,  294 


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